MW Dunkin' is making its return to the stock market - with a new twist

By Bill Peters

Inspire Brands - which owns Dunkin', Arby's and other chains - has confidentially filed for an IPO

Inspire Brands owns Dunkin', Baskin-Robbins, Sonic, Jimmy John's, Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings.

After being taken private in 2020, coffee and doughnut chain Dunkin' is set to return to the public market - and it's bringing a few friends.

Inspire Brands - the company that owns Dunkin', as well as Baskin-Robbins, Sonic, Jimmy John's, Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings - said Friday that it had filed confidentially for an initial public offering, in a move that comes as the restaurant industry deals with inflation-fatigued consumers and a widening discount war.

Inspire said the number of shares to be offered and their price range hadn't yet been determined. The company expects to use proceeds from the proposed offering to repay debt and pay offering fees and expenses.

An IPO from Inspire would follow a similar confidential filing from sandwich chain Jersey Mike's last month. Bloomberg reported that Jersey Mike's was seeking a minimum $12 billion valuation, making it bigger than other recent restaurant IPOs. Inspire could also be targeting a hefty market capitalization as well; private-equity backer Roark Capital has sought a valuation of around $20 billion, according to CNBC.

Inspire formed in 2018 after Arby's bought Buffalo Wild Wings, and it subsequently took Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins private in 2020 in an $11.3 billion deal. Inspire has about $33.4 billion in global sales and oversees more than 33,300 restaurants.

Any IPO would arrive as quick-service coffee gets more competitive. Drive-thru chain Dutch Bros (BROS) is leaning on an array of cold beverages and energy drinks to win over consumers and take a bite out of Starbucks's dominance. Starbucks $(SBUX)$, meanwhile, is trying to rediscover its coffee-shop roots and build on early momentum from its turnaround efforts.

On top of menu-price increases in previous years that scared away customers - and a flood of value deals to get them back - higher beef prices have also hit restaurants' margins. Burger chains Shake Shack (SHAK) and McDonald's $(MCD)$ said as much this week, with the former's stock price taking a big hit, and the latter saying that more consumers were choosing chicken options instead.

However, that trend didn't benefit Wingstop $(WING)$ last week. Shares of the chicken-wing chain fell after higher gas prices stretched the budgets of its lower-income diners, weighing on same-store sales forecasts.

-Bill Peters

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May 08, 2026 18:07 ET (22:07 GMT)

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