New Dunkin’ Coming to Far Northwest Side
Coffee and doughnut-focused restaurant slated to open in February.
Dunkin’ sign. Photo taken March 16, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.
Dunkin’ will open a new location on the Northwest Side early next year, according to a series of permits recently filed with the City of Milwaukee. The upcoming restaurant, 5430 N. Lovers Lane Rd., is the chain’s third location proposed for the city in less than a year. Vishal Vaghani is behind all three.
The prolific franchisee operates two existing Dunkin’ locations and is in the process of opening two more. The latest addition to his portfolio, expected to open in February, will occupy 1,915 square feet within a larger building near W. Silver Spring Drive that also contains a Domino’s Pizza shop.
Dunkin’, which officially shortened its name from Dunkin Donuts in 2019, sells doughnuts and doughnut holes, as well as breakfast items including egg sandwiches and wraps, hash browns, stuffed bagel bites and muffins.
The chain has also become known for its coffee drinks, including hot and iced coffee and espresso, and teas. Dunkin’s signature frozen drinks include the Coolatta, frozen chocolate and frozen matcha latte.
Founded in 1950, Dunkin’ has more than 11,300 locations worldwide. Starting in 1990, a prior corporate parent owned both ice cream purveyor Baskin Robbins and Dunkin’. Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. was acquired by Inspire Brands in 2020. The new parent company also owns Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s and Sonic.
Milwaukee has eight Dunkin’ locations, including the city’s first combination Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins store, which opened in Westown at the end of 2022. Two more, also from Vaghani, are in the process of opening at 242 E. Capitol Dr. and 8111 W. Brown Deer Rd.
The Dunkin’ planned for N. Lovers Lane Road will include both drive-thru and counter service, as well as on-site seating. A build-out is in progress.
The space was previously slated to become a brick-and-mortar location for Mr. Green’s BBQ. The restaurant later withdrew its occupancy permit and instead opened in Franklin at 7740 S. Lovers Lane Rd.
Once open, the proposed hours of operation for Dunkin’ would be Monday through Saturday from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to a license application.
A representative of Dunkin’ did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
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I was surprised to find out that Dunkin had a new owner. I know Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital bought an ownership interest in this in late 2005 for $2.4B (thru the favorite go-to move of every private equity firm, the leveraged buyout). But it has changed ownership since then, going public (IPO) in 2011. Now back to being owned by a private equity group Inspire. The IPO in 2011 was priced at $19 a share, Inspire paid $106 a share ($8.7B for all shares) plus aquiring the$3B in Dunkin debt. This is the American economic miracle, just use debt to speculate on everything and hopefully find a new sucker to bail you out (final sucker being the American taxpayer). (I did this on the fly so I wouldn’t trust any of my numbers or timeline or logic).