DUNKIN’ FRANCHISE PAYROLL · MULTI-STORE MORNING CREWS

A row of restaurants, all open before dawn. WageTime runs the whole network.

A Dunkin’ operator rarely runs one store: the development agreement hands you a network of EINs, crews that clock in before dawn, and Northeast wage floors that rise every January. WageTime runs all of it from one login.

Built on infrastructure processing $35B+ in payroll & taxes · 2.8M+ employees paid

For independently owned and operated Dunkin’ restaurants. WageTime is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Dunkin’ or its franchisor. “Dunkin’” is a trademark of its owner, named here only to describe the businesses this page serves.

SOUND FAMILIAR?

The morning rush is the easy part. The payroll is the network, the draw, and the 5am clock-in.

None of these is the tip-credit problem a sit-down restaurant has. They are the standing conditions of running a Dunkin’ network: several restaurants under one operator, a percentage of sales gone before payroll, and crews that start before the sun on floors that keep moving.

THE DEVELOPMENT AREA

You signed up to open several, each its own EIN

A Dunkin’ franchise is rarely one store. The Store Development Agreement commits you to open a set number of restaurants in an exclusive territory on a timeline, and each one sits in its own LLC with its own EIN and filings. Almost every US Dunkin’ is franchisee-run, so the whole network, and its dozens of returns, is yours to keep straight.

THE 10.9%

Royalty and ad fund come out before payroll

A 5.9 percent royalty plus a 5 percent advertising and marketing fund is 10.9 cents of every gross dollar, gone before coffee, rent, or a paycheck. It is a straight cut of sales, not rent, so labor is the one big number you can steer, and you need it by store this week, not at month-end.

THE 5AM BAKE

The opener is in before the clock

The baker and the first coffee maker start around 3am and the crew at 5am, and the pre-open bake and brew is exactly the worked time that goes uncaptured. Miss the punch and you cannot pay it and you cannot prove you did, on the shift that opens the store.

THE JANUARY FLOOR

Northeast minimums step up every year

Dunkin’ is a Northeast brand, and New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut all raise the minimum wage every January and then index it to inflation. A network spread across those states meets a fresh floor on most of its stores at once, every new year, with the next step already scheduled.

THE DRIVE-THRU TIP

The card screen started asking

The card reader at the drive-thru window now prompts for a tip, and the app adds one too. Your counter crew earns full wage and takes no tip credit, so those card tips ride on top, but they still have to reach the right paycheck with the right taxes and the right year-end form.

HOURS LOCKED IN THE POS

Punches land in one system, payroll gets a file

Crew punches and schedules live in the point-of-sale and back-office systems, and every cycle someone exports, reformats, and re-keys them into payroll. Multiply that by a network of stores and the re-keying is a job of its own, and every handoff can short a paycheck.

The development area, the 10.9 percent draw, and the 5am clock-in each get a product screen or a straight answer below.
01 · THE DEVELOPMENT AREA

You agreed to open several restaurants, so is that a payroll for each one?

A Store Development Agreement makes you a multi-EIN operator before store number two, and WageTime is built for that shape: each restaurant files under its own EIN, deposits included, and the network rolls up under one sign-in.

  • Results per store or combined; hundreds of W-2s under one roof.
  • Role-based access with segregation of duties: a manager sees one store, the org all.
  • Opening the next restaurant adds a company, not a vendor.
app.wagetime.com/group/filings

Group Filings · Q1 2026

4 EINs · filings auto-filed
Federal, state, and local returns filed under each store’s own EIN.
4Stores
82People paid
StorePeople paidFilings
Main St #1187 LLCEIN ••-•••1187 · returns filed22Complete
Route 1 #2043 LLCEIN ••-•••2043 · returns filed19Complete
Turnpike #3319 LLCEIN ••-•••3319 · returns filed24Complete
Harborview #4471 LLCEIN ••-•••4471 · returns filed17Complete
82 people paid · 4 EINs · one loginreporting per store or combined

Replaces a payroll account per restaurant, a year-end scramble per EIN, and the consolidation spreadsheet nobody trusts.

02 · THE 10.9% OFF THE TOP

With royalty and the ad fund gone before payroll, how do you watch labor by store?

With 10.9 cents of every gross dollar gone before anyone is paid, labor is the line you steer, so WageTime job-costs hours and pay to each store as the run happens: a store trending hot shows up this week.

  • Labor cost coded to each store and cost code as it runs.
  • QuickBooks posting by department; labor percentage as a report.
  • Department and location controls across the whole network.
  • A 1099 for the weekend cleaner posts alongside the W-2 crew.
app.wagetime.com/reports/labor-by-store

Labor by Store · Week of Mar 2-8

4 stores1 running hot
$128,500Net sales
$36,575Crew labor
28.5%Blended labor
StoreLabor %Trend
Main St #1187$34,000 sales · $8,840 labor26.0%On plan
Route 1 #2043$29,500 sales · $8,555 labor29.0%Watch
Turnpike #3319$38,000 sales · $12,160 labor32.0%Running hot
Harborview #4471$27,000 sales · $7,020 labor26.0%On plan
A store trending hot shows up this weekreported by store

Replaces the labor-percentage spreadsheet the bookkeeper rebuilds per store every week, and the hot store nobody catches until the P&L lands.

03 · THE 5AM OPEN

Your baker clocks in at 3am and the crew at 5am, so how do early, overnight, and weekend hours get paid right?

WageTime prices the clock a Dunkin’ store actually runs on: the 3am baker and the 5am opener earn their premiums as pay codes, and geofenced, GPS-stamped punches capture the pre-open bake instead of donating it.

  • Night, weekend, and holiday differentials and on-call as pay codes.
  • POS punches import as clock hours; tell us your system on the demo.
  • Weighted-average overtime across every store a crew member works.
app.wagetime.com/time/shift-detail

Early & Overnight Hours · Main St #1187 · Week of Mar 2-8

Punches GPS-stamped1 to review
Early, overnight, and weekend premiums applied as pay codes; punches geofenced to the store.
4Shifts
35.5Hours
Crew memberDifferentialStatus
Amara O.Baker, 3:00a open · 8.0 hrs+$1.50/hr earlyApproved
Devon K.Crew, 5:00a open · 7.5 hrs+$1.50/hr earlyApproved
Priya S.Crew, overnight DT · 8.0 hrs+$2.00/hr overnightApproved
Marco T.Crew, Sat and Sun · 12.0 hrs+$1.00/hr weekendReview
Early, overnight, and weekend premiums appliedevery punch stamped

Replaces the early-bake minutes nobody clocked, and the shift premium someone added by hand every other Friday.

04 · THE JANUARY FLOOR

Northeast minimum wages rise every January and index to inflation, so how does each store stay on its floor?

Every January most of a Dunkin’ network wakes up to a higher wage floor, and WageTime has already loaded it: each store tests against its own federal, state, or local minimum in the same run.

  • New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut step up each January, then index to inflation.
  • Effective-dated setup: next January’s floor loaded before it lands.
  • Rooftop geolocation across 50 states, Puerto Rico, and 11,000+ localities.
app.wagetime.com/payroll/wage-floors

Minimum-Wage Floors by Location · effective Jan 1

January floors loadedall on floor
StoreJurisdictionFloor in effect
Main St #1187Next: Jan 1 CPI adjustmentNew York City$17.00
Route 1 #2043Next: Jan 1 CPI adjustmentNew Jersey$15.92
Turnpike #3319Next step: Jan 1 index formulaConnecticut$16.94
Harborview #4471Next: Jan 1 CPI adjustmentNew York, rest of state$16.00
4 stores · 4 floors · effective-datedevery check on its own minimum

Replaces the rate someone forgot to change the first payday of the year, and the back-pay letter that follows.

05 · THE DRIVE-THRU TIP

The card reader started asking for a tip, so how does that run on payroll?

A Dunkin’ crew earns the full hourly wage and takes no tip credit, so the card reader and app tips ride on top, and WageTime carries each person’s reported tips onto the right paycheck with the right taxes.

  • Tip earning codes carry drive-thru and app card tips onto the check.
  • Pooling is configuration you set, managers and supervisors kept out.
  • Year-end W-2s included: 2026 qualified tips in Box 12 (TP) plus occupation code.
app.wagetime.com/payroll/card-tips

Card Tips · Main St #1187 · Week of Mar 2-8

Tips ride on top of full wageon the W-2
Drive-thru and app card tips carried onto each check by tip earning code; no tip credit taken.
4Crew paid
$280.25Card tips
Crew memberCard tipsStatus
Devon K.Crew · Box 12 code TP$86.40Posted
Priya S.Crew, DT · Box 12 code TP$74.10Posted
Marco T.Crew · Box 12 code TP$61.55Posted
Nadia F.Crew, opener · Box 12 code TP$58.20Posted
Reported on the W-2Box 12 code TP

Replaces the card-tip total that never made it cleanly onto a paycheck, and the year-end scramble to name which dollars were tips.

PRICING

Simple payroll pricing. No surprises.

Full-service payroll is $10 a month per person paid that month, plus $50 a month per company, with unlimited runs. No long-term contracts, no per-run charges.

  • Full-service payroll, unlimited runs
  • Federal, state & local tax filing
  • Year-end W-2s & 1099s
  • Direct deposit, checks & pay cards
  • Contractor payments & filings
  • Off-cycle runs & bonuses, no extra fee
  • Employee paystubs & W-2 access
  • QuickBooks integration
$10/mo per person paid
+ $50/mo per company

Off-cycle runs and bonuses cost nothing extra. No long-term contracts; cancel anytime.

Example: 50 people paid × $10 + $50 company = $550 for the month

HR & hiring, onboarding, PTO, time tracking, benefits, and workers’ comp are optional add-ons, priced separately when you’re ready.

See a demo
THE INFRASTRUCTURE BEHIND WAGETIME
$35B+
in payroll & taxes paid
2.8M+
employees paid
4.3M+
W-2s & 1099s filed
100%
of tax filings automated

Dunkin’ franchisee payroll, asked directly

I signed a development agreement to open several Dunkin’ restaurants. Is that a separate payroll for each one?

No. Each restaurant keeps its own EIN and files its own federal, state, and local returns, but you run the whole network from one sign-in and pull results per store or combined. Almost every US Dunkin’ is franchisee-run and operators usually hold several, so that is hundreds of W-2s under one roof. Opening the next store in your territory means adding a company, not a vendor.

With a 5.9% royalty and a 5% ad fund gone before payroll, how do I watch labor by store?

WageTime carries hours and pay to each store and cost code as the run happens, so labor lands by location and a hot store shows up this week. Finished payroll posts to QuickBooks by department, so labor as a percentage of sales is a report you pull. It matters because the royalty and advertising fund take 10.9 cents of every gross dollar before anyone is paid.

My baker starts at 3am and crew at 5am. Can WageTime pay early, overnight, and weekend hours correctly?

Yes. Night, weekend, and holiday shift differentials and on-call pay are pay codes inside payroll, and a GPS-stamped, geofenced time clock captures the pre-open bake and brew so it is paid, not donated. When someone works two of your stores in a week, overtime computes on the weighted-average regular rate automatically. Approved hours flow into the run with nothing re-keyed.

Most of my stores are in the Northeast, where the minimum wage rises every January. How does each one stay on its floor?

Minimum-wage processing runs at the federal, state, and local level, so each store tests against the floor that applies to it. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut raise the minimum on a January schedule and index it to inflation, and effective-dated setup loads the next step-up before it takes effect. Tax depth reaches all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and 11,000-plus localities.

Our drive-thru card reader now asks for tips. How do those run on payroll?

Straightforwardly. A Dunkin’ crew earns full wage and takes no tip credit, so card and app tips ride on top of the wage. Tip earning codes carry each person’s reported tips into the run and onto the W-2, and starting with 2026 W-2s qualified tips are reported separately in Box 12 with code TP. FICA still applies, and automatic service charges are regular wages, not tips.

What does payroll cost for a multi-store Dunkin’ network?

$50 per month per company plus $10 per month per person paid that month, no long-term contract. The four-store network in the screens, 82 people paid, comes to $1,020 for the month: $200 in company bases plus $820 in per-person fees. Runs are unlimited, so off-cycle final checks and weekly pay cost nothing extra. Switching is full-service and paid, scoped on the demo.

Bring your whole network.

Last month’s labor by store, the restaurant your development agreement has you opening next, and the crew that starts before dawn. Twenty minutes with a payroll specialist on a live demo network: you’ll watch labor post by store, an early-shift premium apply, and next January’s wage floor load ahead of its date.

Book a 20-minute demo