Units of Dunkin Donuts are seeking to revoke a handful of northern Delaware franchise agreements, citing the lack of records in determining whether employees are authorized to work in the United States.
Restaurant Business Online reported that Dunkin was recently in federal court in an effort to enforce the franchise agreements.
Dunkin’ franchise and intellectual property entities first filed suit in the U.S. District Court in 2018 against the following;
- S.S. Donuts, Inc. operates a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant located at 3001 Lancaster Avenue, Wilmington.
- Sakshi Enterprises, Inc. which operates a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant at 30 Salem Church Road, Newark.
- Jigna Enterprises, Inc., which operates a Dunkin’ Donuts located at 201 South DuPont Highway, New Castle.
- Kalpesh Enterprises, Inc., which operates a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant at 905 East Basin Road, New Castle.
- Nilkanth Enterprises, Inc., operates a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant t 906 South DuPont Highway, New Castle.
According to documents filed with the court, the legal entities and their owners were served notice of being in violation of the franchise agreement in 2018.
After receive a customer complaint, “Dunkin’ Franchising investigated and determined that Defendants were committing pervasive violations of federal law failing to verify whether employees at the restaurants were authorized to work in the United States and failing to maintain required records relating to work authorization,” the filing stated.
Dunkin’ demanded the stores take down anything related to the Dunkin brand, but claimed that nothing was done. The franchise unit has been seeking damages from owners.
According to Restaurant Business Online, the Dunkin’ franchisees have responded by claiming the company is trying to take over franchises and sell them at a profit.
The restaurant website says Dunkin’ typically terminates few of its thousands of franchises each year, but has taken a hard line on record-keeping of documented workers.
Dunkin’ dominates the doughnut shop business in Delaware with dozens of locations.
