Dunkin' Donuts founder dies

MASHPEE, Mass. — William Rosenberg, the food-franchising pioneer who founded the Dunkin' Donuts chain and saw it spread from coast to coast and into 37 countries, has died. He was 86.

Mr. Rosenberg died Friday of bladder cancer at his home in Mashpee, on Cape Cod, the company said.

After World War II, Mr. Rosenberg had cashed in $1,500 in war bonds and borrowed an additional $1,000 to start a business serving coffee, pastries and sandwiches to factory workers.

He opened his first coffee and doughnut shop, called the Open Kettle, in Quincy, Mass., in 1948. The name was changed to Dunkin' Donuts two years later. The company still is the world's largest coffee and baked-goods chain, with about 5,000 locations.

"He had a passion for quality that he instilled in his organization and franchisees," said Jack Shafer, CEO of Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin Robbins and Togos. "He had an unrelenting focus on quality, like most entrepreneurs and founders, which is a wonderful thing to instill in an organization."

Born in Boston, Mr. Rosenberg demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age.

As a teenager during the Great Depression, he once carted a block of ice to a racetrack on a hot summer day and sold ice chips at 10 cents a piece, bringing home $171.

After pioneering the canteen truck — a flip-open stainless-steel truck catering to factories and construction sites — Mr. Rosenberg, noting most of his business came from coffee and doughnuts, decided to open a retail store.

He bucked the typical practice of selling four varieties of doughnuts and sold 52 kinds.

In 1955, hoping to accelerate the growth of the business, Mr. Rosenberg began selling franchises to other people, beginning in Worcester.

In 1959, after the franchise idea had started to catch on, Mr. Rosenberg argued at a trade show for the creation of the industry group that became the International Franchise Association.

His son, Bob Rosenberg, kept the business growing and engineered the acquisition of Baskin Robbins and Togos, a sandwich chain, Shafer said.

Dunkin' Donuts was acquired by British food and spirits conglomerate Allied Dome in 1990.

After handing over the company to his son more than 30 years ago, Mr. Rosenberg got involved in harness racing and opened Wilrose Farm in New Hampshire.

Mr. Rosenberg is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter and a stepdaughter.