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By Elissa  Elan

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Nigel Travis

CANTON, Mass. (June  16, 2009) America may run on Dunkin’, but these days Nigel Travis is the man running the company. Five months after leaving Papa John's International Inc. to become president and chief executive at Dunkin’ Brands Inc., Travis said the company's two brands, Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, are well-positioned to grow as the economy recovers. He spoke Tuesday with Nation's Restaurant News about his vision for the company, new trends in the breakfast and snack dayparts, and what he has learned from Dunkin's chairman, Jon Luther.

You’ve been with Dunkin’ Brands for a while now. What is the biggest difference between running it and another company, like Papa John’s?

It’s been five months now and the first difference is that Dunkin’ is a private company. When I was at Papa John’s I spent lot of time dealing with earnings reports and analysts’ calls, but here I just focus on the business day to day.

What has been the biggest challenge for you during this transition phase?

I think it's really been coming to grips with two brands that are in two different situations and developing the right structures for both. We’re trying to make this company faster, much more of a retailer with more focus on day-to-day numbers. Before it was very focused on growth and now we’re trying to make it more focused on numbers day to day. That’s the way I always did it at Papa John’s — looking at numbers hour by hour — and you know in a business like ours, every minute counts. You need to be able to adjust the mix [of products] and offers, be much more responsive to consumers and competitive pressures.

What is your vision for the company going forward?

It’s really no different from [chairman Jon Luther's]. We’ve been very focused on the Northeast and now we’re beginning to see some success in the South and West. We want to cover the 65 percent of the country we’re not yet in. At the same time, we want to grow [the Baskin-Robbins concept] away from its core business in California and bring it back to the East. We already have a fairly strong presence in New York and Chicago. I also want to continue the successful growth of both brands internationally.

How would you assess the performance of the company and of your segment given the state of the economy?

Clearly breakfast is one of the growth areas and snacking clearly is, too, so that’s good. The segment has become somewhat more competitive because of McDonald’s strong campaign and also because of what Burger King and Wendy’s have been doing. And of course Starbucks remains strong. But I am pleased with our performance; we’ve withstood the thrust of McDonald’s advertising and are delighted with the way franchisees have responded. Now we’re getting out the message of how good our coffee and iced drinks are. We’re in a situation where we need to manage to communicate to consumers that we have affordable prices, and our franchisees are committed to [participating in those special] offers.

What do you see happening in the next six months to a year?

By Elissa  Elan

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I’m kind of bullish on the next six months. Before I came [to Dunkin’] a lot of work had been done in building a stronger relationship with the franchisees so that’s a good foundation for us. We’re also marketing stronger products. With most of the summer to come, we’re particularly excited about our exceptionally strong line of iced drinks, which should serve us well. On the Baskin side, California is a very difficult market right now. We’re working very hard with our franchisees on that right now.  

Why California?

It is the one area for concern. That’s the home of Baskin-Robbins, and the economy there has been badly hit. There have been a large number of retail store closings, and unemployment is growing at a fairly strong pace. Many of the large anchor stores [at shopping centers] have disappeared.

So how do you counter this?

You constantly focus on [a popular] product like soft serve. It has captured 70 percent of the market so we see this as great way to get consumers in the stores, and we have seen customer counts increase. We’re working on stage one and that is getting more people into our stores.

How much of an influence has Jon Luther been and what is the most important lesson you’ve learned from him?

That’s a good question. Before I joined the company, he had a great reputation in my mind because two people who worked for me at Papa John’s had also worked for him. His relationship with people is exceptional and it’s something I like to think I also have. We both work hard at the relationships we have with employees; no company can be successful unless you have great relationships in the corporate office and in the field. We have similar styles when it comes to that.

What new snack or breakfast trends are on the horizon?

I think, firstly, that people are staying at home more for dinner and, conversely, eating breakfast out. Maybe they are going to work earlier. And based on the lines we see at our drive-thrus, one big thing is portability. That’s one of the reasons we launched our breakfast wrap last week. It’s something you can hold in the car that meets the balance of great food, nutritional needs and portability.

What do you think of New York’s plan to cut sodium levels in restaurant and prepackaged foods? Is this the next big nutrition issue to affect the foodservice industry?

There is no doubt this is big. Being British, I can tell you the U.K. attacked this pretty big last year. I do think this will become a significantly big trend that companies will have to find a way to adjust to. They have to recognize this is the way things are going. It is interesting to me that many other countries are more focused on health issues than [we are] here.

What are the company’s big international growth targets?

I believe we have big potential in China, and India is another big opportunity. We already do well there with Baskin-Robbins. There are fast-growing middle classes just getting into the kind of Western products we produce. They’re excited for identification with these American items.

Contact Elissa Elan at eelan@nrn.com.