Ice Cream and Donuts Provide More Jobs

Fast food service jobs have never demanded greater respect, or been in greater demand than in the past few years. For one employer, Dunkin' Brands, Inc., parent company of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, business has been so sweet they've been able to create thousands of new, highly sought-after positions.

In 2010, Dunkin' Brands opened 800 new Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins locations worldwide. At 10 employees per location, that's about 8,000 new jobs, at a time when positions for students, part timers, mature and entry-level workers have been lagging. Dunkin' Brands now has 16,193 "points of distribution" in 52 countries.

The company's 2010 growth includes 574 new locations for Dunkin' Donuts. During the year, Dunkin' Donuts U.S. also signed an additional 226 new domestic development agreements.That means there should be more jobs yet to come in 2011. Those who need extra cash while going to school, or to supplement their Social Security income, will have more options.

Dunkin' Donuts has signed multi-store development agreements in 29 U.S. markets -- which means there will be new jobs in cities like Milwaukee, Detroit, Tallahassee, Nashville and Chicago, among others. In 2010, new restaurants opened in Raleigh, Tampa, Baltimore and other cities around the country.

There are plenty of worse jobs out there than providing treats for people when they need comfort or feel like celebrating. Anne Johnson fondly remembers scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins as her first job right out of high school. "The ice cream was great, the customers were generally happy, and I built up incredible upper arm muscle definition scooping the ice cream. Sure, it paid minimum wage, but I was just grateful for a clean, cool place to work. It was the ideal job for me at the time."

Find out more about job opportunities with Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins on their company website.

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