Full Day's Work Morning's over, but Dunkin' Donuts' sales aren't.

Much to my chagrin, I have never met a doughnut I didn'tlike. However, whenever I think about owning a doughnut shop, thememory of the summer I worked at an ice cream store still dissuadesme. (A normal human does not gain 30 pounds in three months.) Ialso recall the pity I felt when I saw the TV ad for Dunkin'Donuts (DD) that featured the old guy stumbling out of bed in thewee hours of the morning, grumbling, "Time to make thedoughnuts." Yes, it's a good idea to be a skinny morningperson when you're in the doughnut biz. So, assuming youqualify, let's explore the salient remaining issue: How onearth can you make a living baking 55-cent doughnuts?

The answer is, you can't. You make a living sellingdoughnuts, bagels, coffee and juice, plus some new proprietaryadditions known as the Omwich, the Dunkaccino and the Coolatta. Newproducts like these have created some pretty exciting same-storesales growth in DD's strongest markets, which consist of theNortheastern and Mid-Atlantic states, Chicago and Northern andSouthern Florida. With several markets in its prime territoriesseeing double-digit growth, DD says, average sales for the entiresystem are up 8 percent. Because DD doesn't make earningsclaims, we don't know what the baseline sales figures are;however, it appears the franchise is putting lots of effort intoimproving them.