Yahoo Finance America badly needs more stimulus, former longtime Dunkin' Donuts CEO says
It’s time to make the stimulus deal, according to a former Dunkin’ Donuts (DNKN) CEO.
Former long-time CEO Robert Rosenberg has seen a few business cycles in his day, so he knows how important it is to Corporate America and smaller businesses on Main Street that a new COVID-19 stimulus deal gets done very soon.
“If I could, I would call Nancy Pelosi myself,” Rosenberg told The First Trade (video above). “Basically we need it, and it’s going to be essential as there is going to be a lot of pain as a result of the pandemic.”
Added Rosenberg, “They need help, and they need it now.”
Rosenberg’s father William founded then Dunkin’ Donuts in 1950 in Quincy, Mass. Some 13 years later, the 25-year-old Robert Rosenberg took over as leader of the company. During a tenure as CEO that lasted from 1963 to 1998, Rosenberg grew Dunkin’ to $2 billion or so in sales and 6,500 restaurants from 100 locations and $10 million in sales.
A true American success story, underpinned by the hard work of the franchisees — or small business owners — that signed up to ride on the Dunkin’ store growth miracle.
Today, Rosenberg is retired and the author of the new book “Around the Corner to Around the World: A Dozen Lessons I Learned Running Dunkin’ Donuts.” It offers up leadership lessons from corporate career that could be viewed as successful by any measure. As for Dunkin’, it’s now called Dunkin’ Brands after a 2018 name change that also saw it push harder into cold and hot coffees. The company has 21,000 restaurants globally, a mix of Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins locations.
Did Rosenberg like the name change? He was cool with it, and told current Dunkin’ CEO David Hoffmann so when he called prior to pulling the trigger.
“I think it’s a great move. It’s a bigger platform, and it better expresses what the brand is going to market with in the future,” Rosenberg said.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-anchor of The First Trade at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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