I sat down with Don Tarinelli, Chief Development Officer at Franchise FastLane, to take a clear-eyed look at how franchise development works in 2026. The conversation did what the best interviews do; it opened up better questions. Why are more founders gravitating to franchise sales organizations now? What truly signals…

There is a problem hiding in plain sight inside franchise development. Brokers and developers are routinely losing 3 to 5 hours a day to operational tasks that have nothing to do with being in conversations: CRM updates, follow-up emails, calendar wrangling, and candidate scheduling that quietly crowds out the conversations…

There is a version of the working parent’s morning that everyone knows too well. The alarm goes off before the sun does. Breakfast is whatever survives the scramble. The drop-off runs long, the commute does not cooperate, and somewhere between the car and the desk, the gym visit that was…

Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux closed the holiday season with a nationwide giveback that was deliberately simple and intensely hands-on; cooks cooked; teammates delivered; neighbors received. Across the system, restaurants prepared and distributed more than 7,500 meals through local non-profits chosen by each location. Partners ranged from the Delaware Township Food Pantry…

Finding the right location for a restaurant franchise has never been simple, but it has rarely been as consequential as it is today. Rents are elevated. Construction costs have climbed. Permitting timelines stretch in ways that eat into a franchisee’s runway before a single bowl is served. In that environment,…

There are brands that follow the market, and then there are brands that seem to arrive exactly when the market is ready for them. Konala (pronounced Koe-Nah-Luh) sits firmly in the second category. Named after founders Trace and Jammie Miller’s two rescue dogs, Kona and Nala, the brand carries a…