22 Doughnut Shops In Burr Ridge? Hardly

BURR RIDGE, IL — If federal records are to be believed, a Burr Ridge office complex is the home of 22 different doughnut shops that employ nearly 600 workers.

According to the records, the businesses are based in Suite 310 at 200 S. Frontage Road. If that were the case, it would be the site of many calories per square foot. And the 22 shops would be an avalanche of competition for the place best known for doughnuts in Burr Ridge — Kirsten's Danish Bakery.

But, alas, the federal records in this case are misleading. The shops are elsewhere.

A look at the FederalPay.org database shows which businesses got Paycheck Protection Program loans last spring. That money was designed to help businesses keep their workers employed during the pandemic.

If you searched the database using the "limited-service restaurants" category and Burr Ridge's ZIP code, you would find the 22 doughnut shops. All of them have "OM" at the beginning of their names — for instance, "OM Keego Harbor Donuts Inc." and "OM Farmington Hills Donuts."

Together, along with two pizza places tied to the same office suite, they pulled in nearly $700,000 in federal loans, which are forgiven if businesses keep workers with about the same pay.

A White Pages listing indicates that a business called OM Group Office Inc. is in Suite 310. As it turns out, most of the doughnut places are Dunkin' Donuts franchises in Michigan, owned by members of the Patel family, one of whom lives in Naperville.

Michigan's corporate database lists Kalpesh Patel as the business' registered agent. His mailing address is listed at Suite 310, but his street address is listed as being at the various Dunkin' Donuts locations.

Patch left a message for Patel at the Dunkin' Donuts in Farmington Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb. The employee who answered the phone said Patel doesn't come in often, but said she would leave a message for him via text message.

A LinkedIn page indicates that Patel is the CEO of OM Group and has multiple gas stations and franchises, including Dunkin' Donuts, Wingstop, Rosati's Pizza and Cousins Subs. Patch left a message with OM Group, which has an office in New Jersey.

Patch asked the U.S. Small Business Administration, which handles the federal loan program, about whether businesses should list the physical addresses of the places benefiting from the program. Spokeswoman Darrah Perryman sent Patch a link for the program's rules, but they included no guidelines on addresses.

If businesses are allowed to use out-of-state addresses for their loans, it reduces the ability of citizens to see which businesses in their communities received government money.