Dunkin' Downer: Donut Franchise Drops Out of Concord Ave. Site

America may runs on Dunkin', but it won't on Belmont's Concord Avenue anytime soon.

A decision by corporate officials in its Canton headquarters has officially sunk plans by a young, Cambridge entrepreneur who proposed opening a Dunkin' Donuts franchise in the new strip mall at Concord Avenue and Bright Street adjacent to the recently opened East Boston Savings Bank branch.  

This marks the second food-related establishment which has failed to get off the ground after announcing plans to come to a storefront in the new retail development at the site of the former Murray Sandler Skate shop.

This past fall, a pair of Belmont residents submitted a proposal to the town to establish a "burger joint" at the site but financial issues and possible concerns with food odors ended that proposal. 

After spending a considerable amount of his money in preparation work, Brandon Woolkalis told Belmont Patch that a 180 degree change in direction by corporate officials has forced him to abandoned his proposal to bring the third Dunkin Donuts shop to Belmont. 

Woolkalis said officials who approve franchises in Dunkin' Donuts' headquarters in Canton had been in discussions with the long-time owner of a shop in Cambridge's Fresh Pond area who believed a new competing store would take significant business from him. 

"At first they said they were OK with us opening. But recently they changed their mind, which is there right to. So we won't be opening [there]," said Woolkalis, who is also a Cambridge police officer. 

Woolkalis, who owns a successful Dunkin Donuts shop in North Cambridge, was partnering with David Carvalho, the CEO of Riverside Management Group, which runs the two Dunkin' restaurants in Belmont on 52 Church St. in Waverley Square and 353 Trapelo Rd. in Central Square.

"What was hard about the decision is that I spoke to the neighbors who were excited that they would have a place that they could walk to and read the paper and get their coffee," he said.

"It's a shame," said Woolkalis.