The Road to Greatness: A 2026 Reflection from our CEO
DALLAS, TX – Quality Brand Group (QBG) is pleased to share a special message from our CEO regarding our continued growth and commitment to our people and communities.
I sit here today reflecting on the impressive progress we have made together over the recent past; evolving our strategy, understanding our business, and investing in our people.
In 2024, our efforts were largely focused on onboarding two separate and important acquisitions that grew our company by 27 stores across two states, refinancing our company to set the stage for profitable growth, and defining the expectations for our leadership and store support. We established our RAISE principles and began the shift of placing a stake in the ground with celebrating a performance-based recognition culture.
In 2025, we made strides in constructing a versatile senior leadership team guided by our long-term strategy to be an authentically great company. We established a marketing department, restructured our development department, invested in more operational support standing up the East and West Divisions of QBG, and leaned into learning from and strengthening our partnerships with each of our brands and fellow franchisees. Establishing our Senior Leadership Team allowed us to spend time working “on the business” engaging together to align all departments in the strategy of business and planning for future success.
With a defined leader of marketing within the organization partnering with the operations team, our investments in local store marketing have increased dramatically and have had more significant positive impact in our communities as we elevated our game across all states. Numerous stores saw record growth with calculated Back-to-School initiatives through customized marketing kits engaged by the field. In addition, the partnership with our marketing and people departments improved our communication both to and from our frontline employees and communities through our new website, company newsletter, text messaging platform, and produced feedback from surveys empowering us to celebrate best practices and learn where we can improve faster. All the while, our mighty construction, development, and facilities team built 7 beautiful new stores, refreshed 28 existing assets with remodels, and established preventative maintenance routines allowing us to be a positive investment for more people, more often.
Our operations team grew with three new and highly experienced Regional Managers as well as the addition of a second Vice President to provide the necessary support for continual improvement across the nation. While the year started off with uphill challenges of donut recalls and quick shifts in our approach to non-dairy milks, our team responded with agility and controls to implement solutions swiftly. With the improvements in communication, planning, and execution, our teams led us to record breaking holiday sales on Valentine’s Day, National Donut Day, National Wing Day, and Christmas day/week. In accordance with our commitment to build an environment where employees can grow and develop over time, we established six Restaurants of Excellence in addition to our pre-existing Certified Training Restaurants across multiple brands. We finished the year with increased employee engagement and guest satisfaction, gaining traction on our path to our purpose of “being a positive investment for the people and communities with which we engage”
All of this work served as building blocks.
As the year continued, we connected with other senior franchisee leadership in Dunkin’, Baskin Robbins, and BWW Go systems, touring assets and sharing financials/best practices. Investing in our vision to be a leader in the large scale, multi-market QSR space, we began the needed process of defining systems and processes with standardized QBG framework for our people starting with the internal branding, common performance review and merit processes, District Manager job roles being redefined, and implementing a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) scorecard to rank the operational success of stores across key metrics.
So. Much. Work.
So. Much. Progress.
We have grown our adaptability through a commitment to improvement resulting in an encouraging evolution and transformation of our team during recent times. While we have made some impressive progress in the development and standardization of systems as we work to align one company platform across all of our geographies, there is much work left to do, and with 2025 in the past, the rear-view mirror is a reminder to look forward. We could not have attained this continual improvement without you; thank YOU for all that you have done and continue to do to help us become a great company.
We enter 2026 with a common goal. A goal of winning. Fulfilling our definition of winning requires us to earn the love of our team, our guests, our shareholders and our brands.
How will we win in 2026?
Continue to define and develop our culture that supports our goal of being an employer of choice
We have a responsibility to be a positive investment for all those with which we engage and that starts with our employees. Providing a positive, encouraging environment where team members are coached, mentored, trained, and held accountable to be the best version of themselves is the first step. RAISE-ing them up and truly seeing them for the value that they bring to one another and our guests is the next.
Deepening our culture of two-way feedback, we are sourcing commentary from our teams throughout the employee lifecycle, from onboarding to exit, to find themes that we can improve upon. Improving access for our field employees to top leadership, we will multiply opportunities for sharing circles and increase the exposure of monthly engagement calls with top leadership to align on current events. Most importantly, we will continue to define and document our culture of what we want it to feel like at QBG, what we value, and what we believe.
How wonderful will it be when we reach a state where every employee is aligned finding joy in our four walls and gives joy to all those that they encounter because of it? How great will it be when we promote and better the lives of individuals that want to grow with us and advance their careers and better the business together? Top performers want to be held accountable, and that Awesome Accountability will raise the bar on every team to attain progress faster. In 2026, I challenge you to work smart and play smart. Train your people to RAISE the standard in your restaurant so they can grow, flourish, and better their lives and their families so you can grow, flourish, and better yours.
Drive topline revenue growth across the network
We have rallied behind the cry “Do What’s Yours to Do”. It is the responsibility of every employee within Quality Brand Group to grow sales! In our support teams, that means engaging in highway signage, working with brands for national catering programs and menus, keeping our facilities and equipment fully functional, teams paid timely, remodels minimally affecting operations and guest experience, planning effective marketing campaigns, and ensuring accounts are up to date to start. It also means thinking differently, ideating, creating, exploring and using data to drive our decisions toward efficient new ways to drive revenue.
Our 2026 launch of local Brand Ambassadors is a direct example of proven results from 2025 driving an investment back into supporting our local teams with more marketing support to drive sales and engage with our communities in positive ways. Driving sales for our operations teams means ensuring every guest that visits our restaurants every day has an exceptional experience and is valued by our team. For our Dunkin’ teams, the “Chill” program will require leaning into our core principles such as Remarkable Hospitality to “make it right”, Awesome Accountability with product knowledge on beverage innovation in our stores, and Exceptional Results as we drive an increase in sales after 1pm.
Citing a recent communication from our Chief Operations Officer (COO):
“This is where our hospitality combined with our quality, cleanliness, speed, accuracy, and friendliness come to life. It’s not enough to be order-takers, food makers, and food deliverers anymore... Retaining every guest that visits us today is step one.”
— Patrick Droesch, COO, Quality Brand Group
It takes a village to build a great company and it all starts with top line sales increasing for us to invest back in our people and business.
Accelerate the development and support of our General Managers
Show me a great store and I will show you a great General Manager (GM).
In 2025, we asked our GMs to ensure we have a fully trained shift leader or manager running every shift and in 2026 we need to continue the development of our people to ensure we have a fully trained GM running every restaurant. Does every GM on our team understand what their job entails so they can effectively “Do What’s Theirs to Do”? The answer to this starts with having clarity in the role itself and then consistency in the role through established habits and successful routines. Focusing on a goal doesn’t get there, motion alone doesn’t get there, it’s daily habitual action taken toward your goals that will result in great stores. This year, we will redefine and communicate expectations for a GM including scheduled 1:1 time weekly as District Managers coach, mentor, train, and develop our GMs to work both “in” and “on the business”.
What does working “on the business” mean for a GM? It means investing in your own personal development, defining goals for you and your team for the week/day/shift, and spending time intentionally planning and strategizing for your restaurant (writing a schedule that supports all day parts and days with an accurate forecast, creating a bench plan for all of your team members and scheduling calculated time to train and develop our next leaders, assessing your daily and weekly sales as to product availability and adjusting orders to ensure you do not run out, taking time to plan community engagement activities to strengthen your reputation and relationships in your city).
Continue to build and refine our management system
To improve, we must first ask ourselves “What are we really trying to do and is this the best way to do it?” If you’re struggling to improve, the problem likely isn’t you… it’s your system.
Establishing a cadence of disciplined development of our people, normalizing routine two-way communication, standardizing alignment of our strategy, and investing in the analysis of our current processes will continue to expose opportunities to strengthen and improve our systems. Rooting ourselves in data, feedback and the wisdom of our people, we are embracing and prioritizing these chances to simplify and improve our internal management systems to reflect One Company: One Way where applicable.
This year we aim to further broaden our management systems with a goal of 15 Restaurants of Excellence and two Certified Training Restaurants across the nation as a baseline allowing us easier access to multiple stores in each of our regions that meet the respective brand standards of excellence and can assist us in training General Managers and Support staff to the same QBG standard in close proximity to each market.
In addition, we will deploy a New Store Opening Specialist tasked to improve the success of our new store performance as they work to smooth the hand off from development to operations. This person will assist the in-store team and leadership with a calculated local store engagement plan to introduce our newest asset to the community Loud & Proud capped off with a Grand Opening celebration. Meanwhile, our people department is working to articulate the growth path potential for our team members as we map out what career pathing can look like in the different areas of potential internal growth at QBG. Whether it’s a new Brand Ambassador role, Benefits Coordinator, or District Manager, we aim to increase our internal promotions of team members delivering Exceptional Results.
Continue to define, develop & train the QBG way
If someone were to watch your actions on a daily basis without hearing your words or being able to communicate with you, what would they believe are your priorities?
Establishing positive habits and breaking negative ones requires intentional effort and effective strategies. Thus, building Quality Brand Group into a great company requires all of our leaders to understand our purpose and vision, align with our goals, and be truly engaged with the strategic initiatives we have identified for success. We must ask ourselves “are our actions are aligned with the goals we wish to achieve?” To become the talent factory we wish to be, our habits and systems must first be established before they can be effectively maintained and then improved upon.
As we RAISE up our teams (recognizing the moments in which they exhibit our valued principles to make impact), we have had a proven positive effect on the employee experience, assisting in the reduction of turnover. Investing in our Certified Shift Leaders has empowered them to support team members, impress guests, find solutions, and is resulting in improved sales and profits. This year, we are furthering our support of our teams with more “functional trainings” and refreshers intended to assist our General Managers in best practices from marketing to basic facilities preventative maintenance. Our monthly and quarterly meetings will evolve with new meeting frameworks to support change and training in every region with similar messaging and cadences.
Make progress on effective new store development, remodels and new store openings
Managing and growing our current portfolio to the best of our abilities is the base entry ticket to the big game of “great companies.” The addition of profitable and affordable new stores as well as the return on investment required from assets receiving remodels will be the difference of how quickly we continue to grow. We know our internal budgets and have a fiscal responsibility to meet them. For every dollar of driven profit within our company, we have a new store or remodel we are eagerly awaiting to invest that dollar to multiply our growth.
Recently, we worked with our brands on a mutually beneficial store development plan in our territories with a rate and pace indicative of the pace of profits we believe we will attain. We are excited for our pipeline of stores to come and have created what we believe is a winning playbook for new store openings and remodels as we re-introduce ourselves to our communities as their restaurants of choice. Now, we look to our teams to help develop our next generation of leaders ready to staff and lead these beautiful assets building new communities of loyal customers.
Optimize store level EBITDA margin
Many of these themes for 2026 are synergetic; as we become an employer of choice, invest in our GMs, craft our management systems, and work together taking action in the same direction at the same time, the ways our people’s lives will improve and our company will strengthen are endless. Being a positive investment for all those with which we engage requires that we execute the above strategic themes and optimize store level profits in the process.
While driving top line sales and controlling our cost of goods and labor are the general assumptions needed to drive profits, there are other levers with which we will engage to continue to drive penny profit. Utilizing data available to us from our Third-Party Delivery platforms, we will solve for optimal hours of delivery, challenge refunds to retain every dollar possible earned from sales, and increase community engagement via reviews to improve our online reputation. We are leaning into new platforms of technology testing drone delivery in our stores with positive initial results. Within our back office, we are upgrading our general ledger system to allow for better integration, AI optimization uploading invoices, timely processing, and quicker close of financials which will allow us to take action on our weekly and period results faster.
The only constant in this world is change. We commit to yielding positive results timely as our company culture adopts a bias for action combined with a healthy sense of urgency. At the same time, we must continually revisit our strategy and processes, engaging in the habit of reflection and assessing if we are truly solving challenges in the best possible way, and if not, we will shift.
What’s next?
Authentic growth starts with clarity of strategy and comes to life through alignment, belief, and decisive action. It takes teamwork, discipline, and heart… and our team has all three. I am truly honored to work alongside such a passionate and capable group of people who care deeply about building something meaningful together.
First and foremost, thank you. Thank you for your effort, your resilience, your ideas, and your commitment to getting better every day. Every improvement you make, every guest you serve well, every teammate you develop, and every smart decision you make with time, product, and resources matters more than you know. You are the reason we have momentum, and you are the reason I am confident in our future.
As we look ahead, we must be clear about one reality: a great culture and a great mission must be supported by strong financial performance. Profit is not the goal for its own sake — it is what allows us to reinvest in our people, build new stores, remodel existing ones, provide career growth, weather challenges, and remain a positive investment in our communities. When we run great restaurants and make smart decisions, we protect the future for everyone on this team.
The past few years were about learning, refining, and building our foundation. Now it’s time to accelerate. Now it’s time to run toward greatness with both heart and discipline.
In 2026: choose action over motion. Be intentional with your time. Every day, leave someone stronger than you found them. Deliver for every guest. Make decisions that strengthen the business. Small, consistent actions done well every day are what build great companies.
Winning means earning the love of our employees, guests, shareholders, and brand partners, and doing so in a way that drives sustainable, profitable growth.
We have the plan.
We have the talent.
Now, let’s execute.Do what’s yours to do. RAISE each other up. Find the joy. Make work fun. Bring your best self. Be exceptional.
The journey to greatness continues and our best chapters are still ahead.
With gratitude and confidence in what we will build together,
Ann Johnson,
Chief Executive Officer
Quality Brand Group
About Quality Brand Group (QBG)
Quality Brand Group is a premier multi-unit franchise operator with a portfolio of 180+ quick-service restaurants across Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Florida. As one of the largest Dunkin’ operators in the country and an actively expanding footprint in Buffalo Wild Wings GO locations, QBG is committed to providing remarkable hospitality and long-term sustainable growth. Learn more at qbgusa.com.
Media Contact
Ashleigh Griffith, Senior Marketing Manager (Ashleigh.griffith@qbdunkin.com)