A unified training platform for 12,000+ franchise locations
Dunkin' Donuts
UI Design
Dunkin' Donuts
UI Design
Dunkin' Donuts needed a centralized training platform to serve employees across their franchise network. Their existing training site was disorganized, difficult to navigate, and not built to scale. The challenge was made more complex by the need to serve both Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins under one roof, with employees who needed training for both brands. I was brought on as part of a two-person design team to rethink the training experience from the ground up — designing solutions for individual brand locations, combination stores, and multiple levels of franchise ownership.
This case study covers the UI design process across a six-month engagement: defining the information architecture for three branded experiences, designing role-based views for employees and franchisees, and validating the approach through user testing.
Franchise employees at Dunkin' Donuts needed to access required training at any point during their shift — video modules, step-by-step recipes, and equipment maintenance procedures. But the existing platform treated all users the same, regardless of whether they worked at a standalone Dunkin', a standalone Baskin Robbins, or a combination of both brands. There was no differentiation between a frontline employee checking a recipe and a franchisee reviewing compliance training across multiple locations.
Employees needed fast, frictionless access to training content that was relevant to their brand, their role, and their current task. The existing system buried that content behind a one-size-fits-all interface that didn't reflect how franchise operations actually worked — and it certainly didn't scale across the three distinct branded experiences the business required.
The scope also grew significantly over the six-month engagement. What began as an employee training redesign expanded to include franchisee-specific views and tiered ownership levels, each with different content needs and permissions.
Across three branded training experiences (Dunkin' Donuts, Baskin Robbins, and a combined experience), we designed a centralized dashboard that gave users everything they needed in one place: an upcoming training agenda, new and trending content (recipes, videos, company updates), and an active list of required training modules. The dashboard served as a single entry point regardless of role, with content tailored to whether the user was an employee or a franchise owner.
User testing with a small sample validated that the training modules and overall experience were effective and easy to navigate. The proof of concept was completed for all three branded experiences, the combination flow, and the individual Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins flows. The project then moved into build with Adobe AEM and continued with the client.
