TL;DR
Manan Shah grew up in a multi-unit, multi-brand franchise family and recalls his father Vijay's journey to becoming a businessman after immigrating to the US. Vijay purchased his first Dunkin' Donuts franchise in 1989 and went on to operate 30 successful units across various brands.
“I basically grew up in franchising,” says Manan Shah, recalling the years he spent working alongside his brother, Neel, in their father’s franchised businesses while growing up in New Jersey.
After immigrating to the U.S. from India in 1983, Shah’s father, Vijay, worked hard to find a way to become a businessman – a goal he made into a reality after purchasing his first franchise in the late 1980s.
“He had a dream to own his own business when he first came here. In 1989, he purchased his first Dunkin’ Donuts in North Jersey. This was before I was born, so my brother and I were basically born into the whole franchising model since we were kids,” Shah says.
Since then, Shah’s father has gone on to operate 30 successful franchise units throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut for 13 brands including Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Jersey Mike's, Bubbakoo’s, Hilton, Shell gas stations, and others.
Despite that long-term success, though, getting started in franchising wasn’t without challenges early on.
In this story
This story was originally published in 1851 Franchise on March 25, 2022. Burnaze summarizes and links to the original reporting.
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