Franchise Today

Marking 62 years of excellence, education, and advocacy, last week the IFA celebrated it's Annual Convention, this year in San Diego and featured speakers that included NBA legend and franchisor, Shaquille O’Neal, Inspire Brands CEO Paul Brown, and Self Esteem Brand’s David Mortensen, along with America’s first black female combat pilot Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour, and author and workforce innovator ...

In the early 2000s, eight Baltimore-Washington Metro Area premier dry cleaners banded together to create a powerhouse brand: ZIPS Dry Cleaners. Together, they brought 100+ years of garment care expertise to the table. Their combined knowledge allowed them to perfect the dry-cleaning process from start to finish.  While known in franchising more for his years in food service, restaurants and hospit...

This week I am happy to feature Katrina Mitchell, someone who seldom takes hold of the mic, or is seen center stage.  Rather, she is usually working behind the scenes, securing center stage keynote opportunities for her ever- growing roster of speakers and/or planning conferences for an expansive roster of franchise brands.  Franchise Speakers Bureau is the ONLY speakers bureau dedicated exclusive...

Cliff Kennedy bought a frios gourmet pops franchise in 2018, and not even a year later, purchased the ENTIRE company. Why?  Because Cliff believes in magic.  You see,one fateful afternoon, Cliff was stuck in traffic as he was every afternoon in Mobile, AL, when he spotted a crowd of happy faces at a Frios Gourmet popsicle stand at the side of the road.  Next came the magic. Cliff pulled off, walke...

Greg Nathan is the Founder of the Franchise Relationships Institute (FRI) and recognized as the global thought leader on the psychology of franchising. He has been a registered psychologist for 35 years and is regularly invited to deliver keynote addresses at franchise sector conferences around the world. Greg's books such as Profitable Partnerships and the Franchisor's Guide to Improving Field Vi...

Michael Isakson is the retired President and COO of ServiceMaster Franchise Services Group, an international franchise services company, where he had responsibility for the development and growth of more than 5,000 franchises worldwide with sales totaling more than $2 billion annually.  As part of the $4 billion ServiceMaster Company, Mike led ServiceMaster Clean, Merry Maids, Furniture Medic and...

I planned to kick off a new season this week, but COVID got in the way.  Instead, I return you to one of my favorite episodes of all time, as I speak with serial entrepreneur, founder and franchising icon, David McKinnon.  Over the past forty years, David has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to recognize unmet needs in the marketplace, innovate solutions, and establish recognizable brands. Da...

I wasn't plannig to post again until January, but here's a little ditty to celebrate Santa's dark side.  Kidding aside, please stay safe, travel easy and avoid the plight of Corona Virus during the year end holidays! See you in 22.     Merry Christmas! Stan

This week, in Part 2 of my conversation with Michael E. Gerber, we look ahead, to how the E-Myth can touch you too, above and beyond his books.  This week we look ahead to Michael’s E-Myth Vertical Publications, The Dreaming Room, Radical U., and we close out this 12th Season of Franchise Today, with a special offer from Michael E. Gerber to Franchise Today listeners, that invites you to bring all...

My guest this week is the iconic Michael E. Gerber, author of the mega-bestselling E Myth Series of books.  Inc. Magazine calls him “the World’s #1 Small Business Guru” — the entrepreneurial and small business thought leader who has impacted the lives of millions of small business owners and hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide, for over 40 years. With an estimated 5,000,000 books sold to...

The Rising Stars of Franchising returns this week with retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Paul Huszar, President, CEO and majority owner of VetCor LLC, a restoration company focused on disaster recovery.  What makes VetCor so unique, is that their franchise network is comprised predominantly of veterans and/or veteran advocates, who in turn hire veterans as technicians, to perform their services.   When i...

Jimmy John is known for many things, but few know how benevolent this man and his family actually are.  From youngg kids working front lines in stores, to hospitals, universities, the military and the arts, Jimmy John has a kind heart and shares his thoughts on benevolence in this interview.  Originally aired in 2019, this is still a great story and worth listening to again, or for the first time....

After almost 25 years Robeks has earned a healthy portion of the growing açaí bowl, fresh juice and smoothie franchise market – which has grown to over $2 billion in annual sales. They know what works, and the kind of leaders that thrive in their fun, yet fast-paced environment. What they look for in franchisees, are difference makers, as committed to their community as they are passionate about t...

You know the last voice I featured last week, during my tribute to Jerry Darnell, was Ryan Hicks, when he told us about how much time he spent during the past few years, his early years in franchising, being guided and mentored by Jerry. That got me thinking about how many others are fresh faces and rising stars in this business.  It got me thinking too, about how many of them  could also use a le...

This week, I present Part 2, of a very special edition of Franchise Today, a tribute to my best and closest friend, Jerry Darnell.  Last week in Part 1, we heard from Jerry himself, as I reprised his visit to the program, from way back in February of 2016.  This week, we'll  hear from you, those who loved him.  And, with special thanks to my sponsors, FRM Solutions, Atmosphere TV and ZorForum, thi...

Today, I am presenting an encore performance of an epic interview, originally aired right here, on February 17th, 2016, when Paul Segreto and I were still co-hosting the podcast.  On that day, we had the good fortune to speak with an amazing franchising luminary, who also just passed, two weeks and three days ago.  I am speaking of course of the iconic Jerry Darnell.  Jerry left us on October 10th...

Almost straight out of college, Joe Sieve became a struggling, undercapitalized, single-unit sandwich shop franchised operator.  It took him some time, but he finally figured things out and between operating and then spending time on the corporate side of the equation, Joe later become a highly successful multi-unit Domino’s franchisee, operating nearly 60 locations, across four states.  His caree...

This week Gina Rivera, President and Founder of Phenix Salon Suites, delivers an encore performance.  I'm back live next week, with Inspire Brands VP of Franchise Development, Joe Sieve.  Also next week, more information on my upcoming tribute to the late, great, Jerry Darnell.

Mike Rozman is passionate about helping business owners succeed. As CEO and co-founder of BoeFly, he has been doing just that since 2010.  BoeFly has been connecting businesses with the resources they need to capitalize their dream of franchise ownership, utilizing data-driven systems and a robust online financial marketplace.  I like to think of BoeFly as being the Match.com of franchise finance....

David Bloom, Capriotti's and Wing Zone's Chief Operations and Development Officer  Two great brands, each primed for accelerated growth, with a Chief Development/Operations Officer that knows how to get it done.  David Bloom delivers, for both brands and their prospective and existing franchisees. David oversees all aspects of franchise development, operations and training. His background includes...

Jodi Boyce is a skilled consumer brand marketer with over 20 years of experience, She has worked on both the agency and client side, transforming marketing needs into consumer messages through POP, print, media, contests, promotions, packaging and digital.  Work at the C Suite level, she is a brand builder, skilled at turning complicated brand attributes into easy-to-understand consumer messages i...

After co-founding Wing Zone some 28 years ago, my friend and one-time partner, Matt Friedman recently took his exit from the brand. He and co-founder Adam Scott conceived and created the brand in a frat house kitchen, back in the erly 90's, while they were both students at the University of Florida.  Over the years, they grew Wing Zone from a regional concept into a global presence, before selling...

With more than 10 years of experience in the fitness industry and owning multiple Fit Body Boot Camp locations, Bryce Henson's passion is spreading fitness to the world, while also mentoring fitness professionals, on how to grow their businesses and make life-changing differences in their local communities. Bryce also co-leads the Fit Body Boot Camp Mastermind Group, an exclusive coaching group fo...

Ron Berger is the personification of success both in business and franchising.  But it wasn't always that way.  In fact his business career began with a bankruptcy. No, check that... Two bankruptcies: One business and the other personal.  But, out of the ashes arose the phoenix.  Today, ron is the Chairman and CEO of multiple pizza brands that he franchises: Nick and Willie’s, Pizza Schmitza and F...

Gerry Henley is well respected and loved by all who know him.  His motto is, scale to get BETTER, before you scale to get BIGGER!  Gerry’s mantra is that Franchisor success is not only about systems – but that it is also about the soul of the people involved and he deploys the only proven franchisor roadmap that shows you how to drive unit level success across your entire franchise organization an...