Dunkin' Donuts' CEO on turnarounds, the value of values, and the "healthy halo"
Jon Luther, Dunkin' Donuts' CEO, doesn't look like a man who has a cozy relationship with doughnuts. At 60 years old, he's a slim, exuberant guy with cropped gray hair and an infectious grin, who professes never to have had a weight problem. Sitting in his office in suburban Boston, surrounded by sports memorabilia and plaques from his sojourn at Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits, he cradles an old-fashioned Dunkin' Donuts mug, and confesses a special fondness for the chain's signature product: ye olde Boston cr?ɬ®me doughnut, a confection so beloved in Massachusetts that it's been named the official state pastry. But these days Luther has more than baked goods on the brain. He's a man on a mission: to transform the 54-year-old company into a low-cost competitor to Starbucks. We talked to him about the hurdles ahead -- and whether, given the toxic aura around high-carb foods like doughnuts, he shouldn't begin by changing the company's name.