Meet Faisal Merchant of Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins in Downtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Faisal Merchant.

Faisal, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was 16 years old and I asked my father if I could purchase the new Jordan’s that had recently come out. He replied, “No son you can’t have it. Once you learn the value of money, then you will understand why.” He had never said I couldn’t have anything up until that moment, so I was shocked at his response.

What I didn’t know was my family was not doing too well financially and we simply couldn’t afford to splurge on sneakers. My father was a cab driver and struggled to make ends meet but never allowed my family to see his struggles.

At the time, I was quite irritated by his response but from that moment I promised myself I wouldn’t take another dollar from him. I wanted to prove to him I did “value” money.

I stayed true to this promise when I picked up a part-time job at Old Navy while in high school and began supporting myself until I reached college.

A few of my friends had lived on campus to experience the college life. I also thought to myself I wanted to do the same, however I quickly realized my family couldn’t financially support it. I was already receiving financial aid to pay for college classes and wouldn’t receive anything additional to live on campus. While many of my friends were out enjoying college, I decided to take classes in the evening time while taking on a full-time job as an IT Systems Administrator at a small firm.

I was so eager to complete college and begin my career in the “real world” I had enrolled in summer classes with the goal to graduate in 3 years. Upon graduation I was hit with reality. My father couldn’t hide it anymore and informed us he wasn’t doing too well financially and that we would have to move our family of 5 into a 1 bedroom apartment.

I was only 21 years old, but decided it was time for me to take charge of our family and ensure we would survive financially. This was when I told my father we should purchase a 3 bedroom townhouse and build equity.

My father thought I had lost my mind and said it wouldn’t be possible. I assured him that I wanted this family to be stable and this would be the best way for us to accomplish this.

So at 21 years old I became a homeowner of a 3 bedroom townhouse with all of the money I had saved from the time I had begun working at 16 years old.

Realizing the financial burden I had put on myself, I realized I had to increase my income to afford the mortgage on the townhome. In addition to a full-time time job and going to school full time in the evening I decided to do some computer repair work on the weekends.

One referral led to another and I had enough customers to open my first business which would be an IT Consulting firm called Small Biz Computer Solutions.

I continued this way for a few years until my father in law approached me to join him in operating his Dunkin Donuts network of 10 stores. He explained my workday would begin at 7am in Downtown Chicago and I was to put in 60 hours a week.

I didn’t object to the workload as much I dreaded getting to Downtown Chicago by 7am! I was not a morning person by any means. I lived over an hour away which meant I would have to be awake by 5:30am.

I also wanted to continue building my IT consulting firm as I really enjoyed technology and had no restaurant experience in my life at that point.

I struggled for some time on which direction I wanted to head. I knew it would be a difficult and stressful road ahead but I saw how much upside there would be to owning multiple restaurants.

So in 2005 I took the plunge and joined my father in law as the operating partner of 10 Dunkin Donuts restaurants. I transitioned my IT consulting firm to my older brother and focused on the restaurant industry full time.

Over the last 12 years, we have grown our network to 19 Dunkin Donuts restaurants all in the Downtown Chicago area.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been anything but smooth. But it’s what I expected it to be. It’s high stress but high reward.

The restaurant industry is fierce and not for the faint of heart. There are so many aspects of the business that can go wrong and do go wrong on a daily basis. From employees not showing up to work without notice to constant issues with equipment breaking down to the many other headwinds restaurants experience.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins – what should we know?
We operate 19 Dunkin Donuts and 5 Baskin Robbins restaurants in Downtown Chicago, overseeing over 300 employees.

I am most proud of how our organization has grown over the years. Every single restaurant manager started with us as a crew member and worked their way up within the organization. Our District Managers followed this same path. I love the fact that we provide jobs to people and the opportunity for advancement.

What sets us apart is that we train our staff to ensure that each and every guest leaves our establishment highly satisfied. Customer service is the highest priority in our restaurants. Being in a busy downtown environment, speed is also very important to us as well. We are able to manage speed without sacrificing order accuracy or quality.

We also enjoy giving back to the community. A few years back, we partnered with other locations in Downtown Chicago and donated over $30,000 to the Children’s Memorial Hospital.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
My father had taught me that I can’t always be the most talented person in the room, but I definitely could be the hardest working one. I’ve taken that advice and applied it to all aspects of my life.

I also had the benefit of learning how to have systems and processes in place from my father in law.

It’s important to manage your time and be proactive vs reactive. My first few years were spent reacting and putting out fires until I understood how to have the systems and processes in place to prevent the fires from happening in the first place.

I enjoy being the underdog and it always fueled me to be better. I’ve had my share of failures and used each one as a learning opportunity to do better on the next opportunity.

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