Dunkin' Brands Charts 2015 Expansion Route

CANTON, Mass. — Dunkin' Brands Group Inc. announced ambitious goals for fiscal 2015, which include increasing its Dunkin' Donuts U.S. restaurant count by 410 to 440 new locations. The company also expects Baskin-Robbins U.S. to increase its net restaurant count by five to 10 new locations.

Additionally, the company expects to see comparable store sales growth of 1 to 3 percent for both Dunkin' Donuts U.S. and Baskin-Robbins U.S. Revenue growth is expected to be between 5 and 7 percent, with adjusted operating income growth between 6 and 8 percent.

"This has been a challenging year for our businesses. We are pleased that Dunkin' Donuts' 2014 U.S. comparable store sales and transactions remained positive, although not as positive as we hoped because of continued pressure on the consumer and decelerating sales of packaged coffee in our restaurants. We expect these trends to continue into next year," said Nigel Travis, chairman and CEO of Dunkin' Brands Group Inc.

Internationally, Dunkin' Brands is making progress in the "retooling" of its business, Travis said, but its earnings growth expectations for 2015 are below its longer-term targets. Despite this, the company is committed to returning to double-digit growth in subsequent years.

At the end of the third quarter 2014, Canton-based Dunkin' Brands' nearly 100 percent franchised business model included more than 11,000 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants and more than 7,400 Baskin-Robbins restaurants, which are primarily owned and operated by approximately 2,000 franchisees, licensees and joint venture partners.