Franchise Brief
Franchise news, insights, and stories shaping the franchise industry.
Featured Stories
Sometimes the best marketing does not need a big announcement, a massive sign, or an elaborate campaign. Sometimes it just needs to make someone smile. That happened to me today. I stopped at Dunkin’ in Southbury, Connecticut, ordered a coffee, and expected exactly what I have received hundreds of times before: a cup of coffee to get my day moving. Instead, what came across the counter created a childlike smile on my face. My coffee came with a sweater. Not just any sweater, either. It was a tiny knitted L.L.Bean sweater in bright Dunkin’ colors, complete with little sleeves, an…
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Growth & Strategy
The ideas, emerging concepts, investments, marketing, and strategic moves shaping franchise growth.
Pumpkin is back, apple is having a moment, and franchise restaurant brands are once again using the arrival of fall to refresh their menus and give customers something timely to talk about. Caribou Coffee, Smoothie King and Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii have each introduced or revived fall menu offerings…
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Operations & Technology
The systems, tools, technology, and operating ideas helping franchise brands and operators perform better.
Ask a real estate investor what actually kills a good deal, and the answer is rarely the property itself. More often it’s hesitation, a bad guess on repair costs, or a decision made from the gut instead of the data. New Again Houses, a franchise built around buying distressed, inherited,…
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Leadership & People
The executives, operators, talent moves, and leadership ideas shaping franchise organizations.
WellBiz Brands has appointed John Thuringer as Vice President of Franchise Growth, adding an experienced franchise development executive to support expansion across its beauty, health and wellness portfolio. Thuringer brings 17 years of experience from Purpose Brands, where he helped drive franchise development for Anytime Fitness and Waxing the City.…
Experience the heart of franchising with stories of Giving, Volunteering, and Caring
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Buying a Franchise
Practical guidance for evaluating, buying, and preparing to own a franchise.
When prospective franchisees compare opportunities, the royalty rate is often one of the first numbers they notice. One franchise may charge 5% of revenue. Another may charge 6%. A third may charge 7%. Those figures are easy to compare, but they don’t necessarily tell buyers what they need to know.…
What Franchise Buyers Are Reading
“As we enter 2026, the economics of franchise growth have reached an inflection point where time saved has become the single most critical factor in predicting long-term success,” said Sam Phelps. In a late-January launch from Fort Worth, his team at Franchise Now introduced DreamStart; an AI-guided funding and onboarding…
When you talk to Daniel McCarty, you don’t get the feeling you’re speaking to a man tinkering at the edges of an old idea. You get the feeling you’re talking to someone tearing the whole thing down, just to rebuild it better. From his home base in San Antonio, McCarty…
Most parents know the version of youth sports that feels like a second job. Early morning practices, weekend tournaments, the quiet pressure to pick a sport and commit before a child has figured out what they actually enjoy. Sportball was built as the antidote to all of it. Founded in…
Daniel Boone has a goal that sounds almost like a punch line until you realize he means it. “I’ve always had a goal, for quite some time now, to live to be 120,” Boone said. That kind of long-view thinking is what eventually pulled him out of the furniture business…
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 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…