DonutNV franchise founders Alex Gingold & Amanda Gingold are, I suspect, victims of bad advisors. The would-be mini-donut moguls flaunt monthly trips to luxury resorts as if they’ve earned the jet-setting lifestyle of the rich & famous. Alex Gingold posts entrepreneurial & motivational messages with the authority of one who’s already built a successful franchise organization. Except… he hasn’t. A well-intentioned intervention by Sean Kelly.
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) If any of the many DonutNV franchise advisors, attorneys, fee-hungry sales and finance brokers, butt-kissers and clingers-on like, care about or have any real faith in Alex & Amanda Gingold, they will join me in impressing upon them this simple truth:
DonutNV is not a franchise success story.
Not yet.
Not by a longshot.
And, unless they take a serious reality check very soon, it never will be.
Please share your candid & confidential opinions and information with an anonymous comment below, or by emailing the author at UnhappyFranchisee[at]Gmail[dot]com.
DonutNV is Not a Franchise Success Story. At Best, It’s a Franchise SALES Success Story.
After nearly a decade since starting their business, Alex & Amanda Gingold were only able to grow DonutNV to 13 franchises… and most of those had been open for less than a year.
In very late 2022 or early 2023, the Gingolds turned over their franchisee recruitment and sales functions to the controversial franchise sales organization (FSO) Franchise Fastlane.
Franchise Fastlane deployed its customary, aggressive blitzkrieg consisting of commission-hungry franchise brokers and lenders outfitted with questionable sales claims (semi-absentee model, alleged overstatements of revenue & profit) and their playbook of hard-sell closing techniques.
The 2024 DonutNV FDD discloses that Fastlane had boosted the company’s franchise count from 13 to 98 operational franchises by the end of 2023.
IFPG reports, through its FranchiseWire promotional site, that as of November 2024 DonutNV had 130 franchisees managing mobile mini-doughnut franchises in about 150 territories in 31 states.
The Franchise Fastlane website boasts that they’ve sold 280+ franchise territories in the last year and a half or so vs. the 13+ the Gingolds managed to get open in 8 years.
So, it appears to me that the only documented DonutNV success story, thus far, is Franchise Fastlane’s success at using questionable earnings claims and an established syndicate of hypesters to convince otherwise rational people to bet their life savings on mobile mini-donuts.
Alex & Amanda Gingold’s Reputation Will be Determined by the Success – Or Failure – of DonutNV Franchisees
Some DonutNV franchisees fear that Alex & Amanda Gingold have forgotten that having sold a franchise is just the beginning of a ten-year commitment.
One struggling DonutNV franchisee laments:
I struggled to put gifts under a tree for my kids for Christmas, and they took a private jet to the Bahamas for Christmas and New Year’s.
Another DonutNV franchisee, on the verge of losing $300,000, summarized his/her feelings like this:
When Alex & Amanda [Gingold] started DonutNV, I don’t think they were out to like, pardon my French, f- over everybody.
But I think they started seeing how much money they were making, and now I don’t think they care.
They’re driving around in his and hers G wagons and flying private to the Bahamas all the time and posting about it on LinkedIn and Facebook
Yet another DonutNV franchise owner predicted:
If they keep handling things as they have been, I have no doubt they’re going to be gone within a couple of years.
Another franchisee stated:
They must realize, at this point in time, they’re hurting people, and lives are being destroyed.
I Predict: 2025 Will be a Defining Year for the DonutNV Franchise
Whether the Gingolds can transform the DonutNV sales success story into the start of an genuine franchise success story will likely become clear, in my opinion, by the end of 2025… or even sooner.
I hope they do… for their sake and the well-being of their hard-working franchisees.
As one who’s spent the better part of 3 decades growing start-up franchises into true franchise success stories, I’ll off this advice – free of charge – to Alex & Amanda Gingold:
Dear Alex & Amanda:
Don’t make the deadly mistake to believe the hype your franchise sales brokers have created for you.
You may have a successful concept, but you do not yet have a successful franchise.
Franchise Fastlane convinced more than 100 franchisee investors that you two are willing, able and dedicated to help them create successful businesses.
These franchisees have trusted that you understand and will honor your responsibility to be the franchisor you claim to be.
Some are now privately characterizing the DonutNV franchise opportunity as a “Money Grab” and a Ponzi scheme.
Your social media posts boasting of expensive dinners and drinks, and frequent, extravagant resort vacations seem to be validation of their worse fears.
Those pictures, posts and messages communicate that either you’re not aware of their struggles… or that you don’t care.
You haven’t responded to any of my questions or been willing to acknowledge the important issues raised.
It’s not too late to make DonutNV a franchise success, but it won’t happen by hiding from challenges.
Whether DonutNV becomes a franchise success story or just another cautionary tale won’t be determined by how many franchises Franchise Fastlane sold. It’ll be determined by what happened during the ten-year franchise agreements AFTER they signed.
Feel free to give me a call for suggestions on correcting your course… or to explain how I’m mistaken.
I’ll be happy to share any rebuttals, clarifivations or corrections you provide.
All the best,
Sean Kelly
Publisher, UnhappyFranchisee.Com
President, Relentless, Inc.
Also Read:
Is the DonutV Franchise Too Good to be True?
Is the DonutNV Franchise Too Good to be True?
DonutNV Franchise Earnings Claims: Accurate? Or Intentionally Deceptive?
Franchise Brokers: Have ZERO DonutNV Franchise Owners Failed?
Do DonutNV Franchise Sellers Support Free Speech & Full Disclosure?
NEW:
Has IFPG Stopped Promoting the DonutNV Franchise?
DonutNV References/Documentation:
DonutNV 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD)
Are you familiar with the DonutNV franchise opportunity? With Alex & Amanda Gingold?
Are you familiar with Franchise Fastlane?
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Tags: DonutNV, DonutNV franchise, DonutNV franchise earnings, DonutNV franchise opportunity, Donut franchise, Franchise Fastlane, Alex Gingold, Amanda Gingold, Jake Hamburger, Franchise Sidekick, Franchoice, IFPG, Franserve, Franchise Brokers Association,
