This article is brought to you by Shipley Do-Nuts.

With so many options for people looking to expand their franchise operations, finding the perfect fit can be a challenge. Aman Dhuka knows that firsthand.

Dhuka had already been a franchisee for a c-store and a well-known QSR. He was looking for something that would diversify and add a different time of day to his portfolio.

And as Shipley expands its reach across the country, the value for Dhuka is going up. He’s been able to combine his Shipley franchise with his c-stores and has created a portfolio that covers all times of day and all sorts of people.

“We really, really wanted [to work with Shipley],” said Dhuka, who grew up in Houston eating Shipley donuts. “I know everyone at the company, and that's what I like. I can reach out to anybody I want, and I see them. It's a small team, and they really take care of you. There's no different layers. You pretty much just know the whole group. And I like that.”

Dhuka said he loved the heritage of Shipley Do-Nuts, which matches what Dhuka tries to incorporate into his franchises. He appreciated the mission it promotes of giving back and honoring the communities that Shipley serves. It was this kind of engagement and contribution that Dhuka was looking for in a franchise.

“Whichever city, whichever town we're in, what we do is we'll go through the history and preserve it in our design and our plaques to sort of recognize what's made it what it is today,” he said. “And that's what makes us get involved with schools, with others in that community. And I feel like that's the thing with Shipley as well, where there's a lot of community engagement.”

After Dhuka convinced Shipley to be featured in one of his c-stores, “the numbers we were doing surpassed what they were thinking we could do,” he said.

Shipley is currently expanding and offering incentives to new franchisees, which Dhuka said has him excited. The national push “was one of the factors we really liked. The value of [the brand] will increase as it gets national recognition. Whereas with larger, already nationally recognized brands, everything’s already at a premium. Right now, the opportunity is perfect for Shipley.”

Shipley is looking to break ground in Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Ohio.

“We’ve positioned ourselves well in different markets,” Dhuka said of his franchise business. “And right now [with Shipley], the expansion is happening, so I'm able to get in front of it as they’re expanding to certain areas and say, ‘You know what, I have open territory here, and I can quickly tour a lot of spots before it gets saturated.’”

“The further [Shipley] goes out,” he said, “the more opportunities we get to expand out.”

This is the second installment of a two-part NACS Daily series on Shipley Do-Nuts. Learn more about Shipley Do-Nuts franchise opportunities here.