How do you find out who owns a particular franchise?

Question

Specifically a Dunkin Dounuts

I want to search this online...I know an option is to call the corporate office.

Thanks for your answers!

Answer 1

This is not so easy as it might seem and I will explain why that is the case below. Bottom line is that the easiest way is going to be to call the location and ask. Here's why:

Franchise companies list the names of their franchisees in what's called the UFOC. This is the disclosure document that details the terms of franchise agreements, including fees, royalties, and obligations of both the franchisor and franchisee. These are tough to get a hold of without expressing interest in buying a franchise to the company in question. Aside from purchasing the UFOC from a vendor, which is pretty expensive (commonly sold for a few hundred dollars), there is an alternative.

There are 15 states that regulate franchises and which retain copies of UFOCS for any franchises that operate within their state. However, most states have "exemptions" which allow large franchises such as Dunkin' Donuts to not have to file their UFOCs. There is one exception, and that is the State of Minnesota. Whether Dunkin' Donuts operates in Minnesota I don't know, but the state also does not have an online searchable database. The only state that regulates franchises that has this information online, at least to my knowledge, is the State of California. It, however, allows for exemptions and it's highly unlikely that you'll find Dunkin' Donuts information there, though you can try. Below is a link to the search page. You won’t always find the company by searching only its retail trade name. Search under the franchisor’s actual name of incorporation. If you can't identify it, you can also try using the helpful “contains” function of the search engine.

http://134.186.208.228/caleasi/pub/Exsearch.htm

Good luck!

Answer 2

try these:

http://www.franchises.about.com/od/franchisedirectory/fr/dunkin_donuts.htm

http://www.restaurantfranchise.com

http://www.dunkindonuts.com/aboutus/franchise

I hope this is helpful to you. I love dunkin donuts!! :)

Answer 3

I know I am late to answer this question but the best place to search is to go to the Secretary of State Corporations Search 1st. Go to Google, type in Secretary of State (for your state) then go to the "Corporations" section and do a search.

This should produce the needed results. If not, try the other answers.