Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue IV, 2015 | Page 56

Branching Out
ternative Points of Distribution (APOD)
Task Force, which assists franchisees with
non-traditional locations and the host relationships that ensue. Dunkin’ has been at
the forefront of alternative development,
with offerings in airports and other mass
transportation terminals, casinos and resorts, hospitals, stadiums, grocery stores,
C-stores, military bases, and colleges and
universities.
“Some of these opportunities are obvious, some are less obvious. It is important
for franchisees to pursue them,” says Branca,
whose extended family owns more than
800 Dunkin’ Donuts stores, dominating
the brand in the Northeast.

Robert Branca, Jr.
hotels, convention centers, military bases,
hospitals, travel stops, big box stores, and
anywhere customers gather, pass through,
work, or live. Food brands, a natural choice
for alternative settings, have received the
most fanfare, but retail, health-related
brands, and service franchisees such as
mailing and tax preparation businesses are
finding plenty of non-traditional places to
build their brands.
Non-traditional sites are also booming
because customers are demanding that
brands think—and deliver—differently.
Evolving technology and lifestyle changes
continually influence customer expectations, says Robert Branca, Jr., chairman
of Branded Management Group, which
operates more than 80 Dunkin’ Donuts
in Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio.
“If the consumer interacts with your
brand, you have to be where they are and
where they want you,” he says. “Non-traditional development is a way to do that.
It allows you to keep relevant, to not miss
transactions, and to further enhance brand
loyalty. The other side of that coin is that
if you want to continue to grow in highly
penetrated markets for your brand, those
are sometimes the only opportunities left.”
Branca is well-versed on the pros and
cons of non-traditional locations. As an
attorney, he negotiated some of his company’s first non-traditional sites. Today he
is the franchisee chair of the brand’s Al-

54

Reaching mobile customers
Gregg Hansen, a Huddle House franchisee in Chattanooga, Tenn., found nontraditional expansion opportunities on the
road. Hansen, the brand’s 2015 Franchise
Partner of the Year, recently partnered
with Pilot Flying J, the country’s largest
operator of travel centers and plazas, to
transition 11 Huddle House shared-space
sites to his portfolio, which now stretches from Georgia to North Dakota. The
move makes Hansen the brand’s largest
franchisee.
“The strongest advantage is that the
demographics of the Pilot Flying J guest
are very similar to the demographics of
Huddle House,” says Hansen, who also

owns seven freestanding Huddle Houses.
“It’s the kind of food that folks want to
eat while they are on the road—get filled
up and stop and relax a bit. I have always
loved the match, and it is what drew me to
want to participate. The challenge is that
we are in multiple states, and any time you
are trying to do anything in multiple states
there are obstacles in executing the plan
and systems to get the maximum benefit.”
Midway through the expansion, for
instance, Hansen realized that he would
have to revamp his usual local marketing
tactics to reach professional drivers, who
often are far away from home. “We’ve had
our arms wrapped around trying to develop
a marketing program that specifically addresses our professional drivers, which is
much different than most people’s idea of
traditional marketing,” he says. “We are
pursuing out-of-the-box things to try to
figure out how to reach our professional
drivers.” Most of them so far, he says, are
electronic, such as texts and mobile apps.

Gregg Hansen

MULTI-UNIT FRANCHISEE IS S UE IV, 2015

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