Dunkin' Donuts, Jerry Jones and Troy Aikman Announce Limited Partnership to Open New Dunkin' Donuts Restaurants Throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Region

CANTON, Mass., March 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Dunkin' Donuts, America's all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods, has added significant new star power to fuel its expansion in Dallas, today welcoming Dallas Cowboys Football Club Owner and General Manager Jerry Jones and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman as the brand's newest franchise partners.  As part of a limited partnership between Dunkin' Donuts, the Jones Family and Aikman, the group plans to open at least 50 new Dunkin' Donuts restaurants throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth region over the next five years.

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"We have a lot of greats to be proud of here in North Texas," said Jerry Jones.  "Great people, great sports teams and great traditions, which is why I am excited about being a part of bringing great coffee, iced tea and baked goods from Dunkin' Donuts to the area."

"In traveling around the country on business, I've had the opportunity to enjoy Dunkin' Donuts coffee in many other cities," said Troy Aikman, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current FOX Network broadcaster.  "I'm excited to now be a part of bringing this same outstanding experience to everyone here in Dallas and Fort Worth."

There are currently 19 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in North Texas, including four locations at DFW Airport and a new restaurant that recently opened in McKinney, Texas. Another Dunkin' Donuts restaurant is scheduled to open in Southlake in mid-April.

"We are honored at the opportunity to grow our presence in the Metroplex through a partnership with Jerry Jones - one of the country's most admired businessmen and a leading presence in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and Troy Aikman - one of the NFL's all-time great leaders on and off the football field," said Nigel Travis, Dunkin' Brands, Inc. CEO. "We look forward to making America's favorite coffee, as well as our delicious baked goods and food products, available to a growing number of customers in this area by teaming up with these outstanding franchise partners."    

Under the agreement, Dunkin' Donuts, the Jones Family and Aikman will share ownership of the new Dunkin' Donuts restaurants and 11 of the 19 existing locations.  Together, Dunkin' Donuts, the Jones Family and Aikman will be jointly responsible for strategic planning, expansion and marketing, with Dunkin' Donuts responsible for the operations of the restaurants.

In 2009 Dunkin' Donuts entered into a partnership with the Dallas Cowboys Football Club as the official coffee for the team. Since then, "America's Team" has run on Dunkin', with Dunkin' Donuts pouring stations located strategically throughout Cowboys Stadium, serving "America's Favorite Coffee" both hot and iced, hot chocolate and iced tea during Cowboys home games, college football games, concerts and other stadium events. Dunkin' Donuts signage appears within the stadium and advertising is shown during events on the LED ribbon board and video board.

Dunkin' Donuts has a long and proud history of partnerships within the sporting industry. Dunkin' Donuts is the official coffee provider for many professional teams, including the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, New York Mets, New York Giants, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Capitals. 

The expansion of Dunkin' Donuts in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is part of the Company's goal to more than double its current footprint of 7,000 restaurants in the United States over the next 20 years.

According to The NPD Group / CREST®, Dunkin' Donuts serves the most hot regular/decaf/flavored coffee in America. Additionally, Dunkin' Donuts was ranked number one in customer loyalty in the coffee category for the sixth consecutive year by the 2011 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index. Dunkin' Donuts recently announced that the company is recruiting franchisees for the markets of Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Houston and Waco, Texas; Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma; as well as Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Company expects that restaurants in these new markets will begin to open in early 2013.

For more information about Dunkin' Donuts, please visit www.DunkinDonuts.com or follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/DunkinDonuts) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/DunkinDonuts).

About Dunkin' Donuts
Founded in 1950, Dunkin' Donuts is America's favorite all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods. Dunkin' Donuts is a market leader in the regular/decaf coffee, iced coffee, hot flavored coffee, donut, bagel and muffin categories. Dunkin' Donuts has earned the No. 1 ranking for customer loyalty in the coffee category by Brand Keys for six years running. The company has more than 10,000 restaurants in 32 countries worldwide. For the full-year 2011, Dunkin' Donuts' restaurants had global system-wide sales of approximately $6.5 billion. Based in Canton, Mass., Dunkin' Donuts is part of the Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNKN) family of companies. For more information, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein are not based on historical fact and are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the applicable securities laws and regulations.  Generally, these statements can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "feel," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "project," "should," "would," and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.   By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future.  These risk and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the ongoing level of profitability of franchisees and licensees; changes in working relationship with our franchisees and licensees and the actions of our franchisees and licensees; our master franchisees' relationships with sub-franchisees; the strength of our brand in the markets in which we compete; changes in competition within the quick service restaurant segment of the food industry; changes in consumer behavior resulting from changes in technologies or alternative methods of delivery; economic and political conditions in the countries where we operate; our substantial indebtedness; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; consumer preferences, spending patterns and demographic trends; the success of our growth strategy and international development; changes in commodity and food prices, particularly coffee, dairy products and sugar, and the other operating costs; shortages of coffee; failure of our network and information technology systems; interruptions or shortages in the supply of products to our franchisees and licensees; the impact of food borne-illness or food safety issues or adverse public or medial opinions regarding the health effects of consuming our products; our ability to collect royalty payments from our franchisees and licensees; the ability of our franchisees and licensees to open new restaurants and keep existing restaurants in operation; our ability to retain key personnel; any inability to protect consumer credit card data and catastrophic events.

Forward-looking statements reflect management's analysis as of the date of this press release.  Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are more fully described in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the section headed "Risk Factors" in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K. Except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Dunkin' Donuts