June 10: Dough-Nut

William Rosenberg, an eighth-grade drop-out who founded Dunkin’ Donuts and helped to pioneer the franchise system of business ownership, was born on this date in 1916, the son of grocers in Dorchester, Boston. After working for a number of years in food distribution and sales (and, during World War II, for the Hingham Shipyard, where he served as a United Steel union delegate), Rosenberg founded his company in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts. After opening his sixth shop, he began to expand through the franchising system, which at the time was riddled with abuse and fraud. In 1960, Rosenberg moved to rehabilitate franchising by founding the International Franchise Association, which today represents more than 1,300 franchise businesses (acounting for 42% of U.S. retail sales) and 10,000 franchisees, as well as their suppliers. Dunkin’ Donuts today has more than 5,000 outlets. Rosenberg died on Cape Cod in 2002.

“A leader must possess credibility, imagination, enthusiasm, vision, foresight, a sense of timing, a passion for excellence and be willing to share.” —William Rosenberg