Franchise Today

Rafik Farouk began his illustrious career in hospitality in Egypt, right out of culinary school.  Some 30 years later, he's done it all.  From tending bar to International Operations and Franchise Development.  Rafik's depth of experience has seen it all too, from both the franchisee and franchisor side of the equation.  Today, he directs International Global Business Development for P.F. Changs and he is here to tell us all about it.  

This week we close out Season 13 of Franchise Today with a quick review of 2022 and a look ahead to 2023.  Violating every rule of PC (Political Correctness) I will wish you all the very best for a safe and Happy Holiday Season, calling out some of those holidays by their correct and proper names.  :)    

I hope you all had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.  I certainly have enjoyed my break on the beaches of Amelia Island, FL.  This week I reprise my interview with Franchise Business Review's Emily George.  Anyone who knows her, gives thanks for the opportunity to do so.  What a better way to bring the Thanksgiving break to a close.  If you already know her, you know I'm right.  If you've yet to meet her, here is your opportunity.   C-ya back here to put the lid on Season 13 of Franchise Today, next Wed. at noon Eastern!

This week I present my interview with Jeremy Morgan, CEO of WellBiz Brands, the pre-eminent beauty and wellness franchise portfolio including Drybar®, Amazing Lash Studio®, Radiant Waxing™, Elements Massage®, and Fitness Together®. Boasting some nearly 250,000 members and $500 million of systemwide sales across the 900 locations of their collective brands,  WellBiz Brands is the leading franchisor of products and services that cater to the needs of affluent women. As CEO, Jeremy has spearheaded the M&A agenda for WBB.  Under his leadership the company has created a world-class membership ecosystem for franchisees, while also building expertise in supply chain management, e-commerce and product innovation. His influence and vision have helped the company earn national recognition on lists such as the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies and Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500, among others.

This week I feature my former Wing Zone partner, Matt Friedman.  For years when we would bring prospects and guests into town for Discovery Day, they would inevitably make the leap that by virtue of our last names being the same and me being Matt’s senior by a good 20 years, that we were father and son.  They would look at all that Matt and Adam had accomplished in building the Wing Zone business and suggest how proud I must be of my son.  Well, while I would always agree with them about the growth of the business, I would tell them too, how proud I am of my son, but his name is Michael, not Matt and doesn’t participate in the business.  It was always lots of fun that I could count on monthly.  Anyway, I tell you all that to say this week I am particularly proud of my son Michael, as he gets ready to join his bride Megan, to share their vows of marriage.  So, who better to present today than that other Friedman, Matt, as I celebrate this sacred event with my "real son."  Next week, I am back and joined by Jer

The Band of Hands HR platform is transformational in the management of recruitment, administration and retention of front-line employee relationships. Band of Hands is not a staffing company, a PEO, a payroll company or a compliance admoinistrator.... Band of Hands is all of those things and MORE!  Their game-changing software platform puts the wind at your back, while most everyone deals with head winds.  They've got this down, even in California, so they can do it for you too, ANYWHERE!  

This week I present another in my series, "The RIsing Stars of Franchising," as I speak with Ben Utecht, who enjoyed an exemplary career on the gridiron, as a starting tight end for the Bengals, and Colts.  This culminated with a Super Bowl Championship in 2007, playing with Peyton Manning, on Tony Dungy’s award winning Colts.   Today Ben Utecht has brought his transferrable skills from the field and playbook, to the franchise game, as both a franchisor AND franchisee of Conquer Ninja Gyms.  Ben has had success in many realms, including being awarded Tony Dungy's Uncommon Leader Award following in the footsteps of athletes like Peyton Manning. Ben Utecht, this week, on Franchise Today!

This week, I’ll be talking with John Ramsay, Vice President of Franchising for the iconic Noodles and Company.  John’s background spans over 28 years of experience in restaurant franchise development, with such icons as TGI Friday, Jack in the Box, Marco’s Pizza and Bruxie International.  John joined Noodles & Company in November of 2020, as vice president of franchise development. While many restaurant concepts in this Covid/Post COVID era have been hitting the brakes, Noodles and Company has actually doubled down, as the Colorado chain with John leading the franchise development charge, hits the gas, driving Noodles' restaurant growth initiatives.  John’s history includes positions in both franchise and restaurant development and he is extremely excited to have the opportunity to grow and further develop a proven concept like Noodles and Co.  As we will discuss, Noodles has innovated and adapted quickly to the off-premise experience and offers attractive unit-level economics for franchisees." Noodles &

Goldfish Swim School offers swimming lessons to kids from the age of 4 months to 12 years. Founded by Jenny and Chris McCuiston in 2006, the swimming business started franchising in 2008, following a rise in demand for swimming lessons. Since then, the Goldfish Swim School franchise has expanded to more than 130 locations in both the United States and Canada. Andrew McCuiston, President of Goldfish Swim School is my guest, this week on Franchise Today.  

This week I present another inspiring tale of two young kids that went to high school together, remained friends through college and then began a junk business that took off, right from the start.  The story:  College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving is all about how Nick Friedman and his partner Omar Solimon, rode the wave of knowledge and information they took from reading Michael E. Gerber’s E-Myth Revisited. During this interview, Nick will tell you that it was this book that transformed his point of view, from working in the business, to working on it and morphed it from the two of them doing everything from answering phones, driving the truck and collecting trash, to being an enterprise of 400+ franchised territories and growing.  Today, they are delivering nearly $300,000,000 in system-wide sales.   No doubt, one man's junk, is another man's treasure.  Nick Friedman is here, to tell us all about it.      

This week I chat with Jane Grote Abell, a second generation franchise leader.  Herstory is not about how franchising found her, it’s how she was born into it the restaurant and franchise business along the way, had the golden opportunity to sell her company to the golden arches, that’s right McDonald’s and then double down about four years later and actually buy it back.  We’re talking Donato’s today, with Jane Grote Abell, an amazing advocate for women in business, and philanthropy.  Today, she is a founding family member and Chairwoman of the Board at Donato’s Pizza.  Jim Grote founded Donatos as a sophomore in college. His philosophy was simple: 'To make the best pizza and to treat others the way he would like to be treated.' Jim built trust with his customers and a sense of goodwill in the neighborhood. And, with Jim’s very first restaurant connected to the Grote house, young daughter Jane, very much grew up in the family business. 

Some dozen years ago, I remember having a conversation with Amit Pamecha, the founder of FranConnect, who back then, just happened to be my boss.  It was a conversation over dinner, about how back then, we didn’t seem to run into too many MBA’s in the franchising world.  Well, fast forward to today and I think its safe to say that trend has changed.  We hear from guests all the time here on Franchise Today, who have MBAs to their credit.  But, it’s not everyday that those MBAs  were earned at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, with an emphasis in Marketing, Operations & Entrepreneurship.  Well that all changes this week, as my guest, Wetzels Pretzels CEO Jennifer Schuler, checks that box for us and is here to tell us all about that, and more.    

Restaurant Operations, Marketing and Franchising veteran Paul Macaluso joined Another Broken Egg Cafes as President and CEO in 2019.  Paul is an enthusiastic, hands-on leader with experience in a variety of executive and senior positions. Spanning a career of 25+ years, he is widely known for driving results at respected brands throughout the restaurant industry.  He began his career as a Restaurant GM with Taco Bell and advanced to hold many operations and marketing roles for them for the next 10 years.  He then went on to take a turn at brand strategy, menu development and product marketing positions for both the Burger King Corporation and Sonic Drive-ins, before joining joined FOCUS Brands filling a variety of senior marketing and brand strategy positions there, before being promoted to President of McAlister’s, where he led the brand to record setting EBITDA and new restaurant openings. Prior to joining Another Broken Egg, Paul served as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Krystal Company, lea

I'm off to Buffalo this week for my annual pilgrimmage to the National Buffalo Wing Festival, but in my place, I present a very special reprise of my two-part interview with Michael E. Gerber.  PLUS, the Man, the Myth,The Legend has a very special offer that he is extending to select listeners of Franchise Today.  Tune in Wed. @ noon ET, to learn more.  Next week, I return and will be joined by Paul Macaluso, President and CEO at Another Broken Egg Cafes.

Brandon Ezra started Grand Welcome with a handful of condominiums in Mammoth Lakes and grew his property management company to be one of the largest in that destination. That was the start of a larger vision and the umbrella growth of Grand Welcome.  Today, Grand Welcome is a fast-growing franchise system leveraging the highly fractured, $81 billion-dollar short-term vacation rental market. With 738 properties under management nationwide, and sales projected at $48 million, Grand Welcome expects to nearly double their 2021 sales of $25 million, in 2022.  Entrepreneur magazine has named Grand Welcome a 2022 Top New and Emerging Franchise.  Grand Welcome Founder and CEO, Brandon Ezra, my guest this week, on FRANCHISE TODAY.

This week’s interview is with an amazing, rising star of franchising, Tony Zaccario, who at the age of 28, is President and CEO of Stretch Zone.  For the past five years, Zaccario has led the charge at Stretch Zone, bringing the brand to 200 units from the 5 that were licensed when he first got there.  Zaccario was hired as General Manager in 2016, promoted to VP of Operations 15 months later and ultimately to President and CEO just 15 months after that.  WIth not a single failure, this chain is tracking toward 300 open and operating by the summer of 2023. And, with the likes of Drew Brees, NFL and franchising veteran on his board and, also investing in the brand as a multi-unit owner, this brand is on it's way.. In fact, their growth is not occuring from the sale to new franchisees, so much as from awarding additional territories to highly successful, existing franchisees, coming back for more. 

Today, as CEO of Mongolian Concepts Restaurant Group, Gregg Majewski sits at the helm of  3 brands:  Ghengiss Grill, Flat Top Grills and BD’s Mongolian. But this restaurant and franchise executive checks the box for growing more than just this roster of brands, as straight out of college 20 plus years ago, Gregg went from the role of accounting apprentice, to Controller, from Controller to CFO, then from CFO to COO and ultimately straight to the top of the house as CEO of none other than Jimmy Johns.  Over the course of 5 years, he contributed to the growth of that iconic sandwich chain from 307 open and operating when he arrived, to more than 300 on his watch when he exited, 5 years later.  And, he's well on his way to doing it all over again with Mongolian Concepts.  Gregg Majewski, this week on Franchise Today.  .     

Chuck Bongiovanni is an accomplished, serial entrepreneur, with a knack for identifying challenges, facing them head on and creating win/win solutions for all stakeholders  As co-founder and CEO of Care Patrol, he and his wife Becky grew that brand to +/-150 units, before selling the brand to the Riverside Company.  To this day, Becky remains its President, while Chuck went on to create the next chapter in his life, as co-founder and CEO of Majestic Residences.  At Majestic Residences, they provide the highest possible quality of care to seniors who require low or higher levels of care, including memory-specific care, but they do so promoting dignity, self-esteem, and autonomy in how they go about doing it, caring for residents in the environment of smaller, residential care homes that they build or convert, in quiet, residential neighborhoods and communities, as opposed to most assisted living facilities, which are usually have much larger footprints and are more institutional in their nature.  Chuck Bongi

Jerry Flanagan is an Army Veteran and entrepreneur who, along with his wife Tracy, have created a national brand, dedicated to empowering Veterans through entrepreneurship. Rooted in the Military values of Respect, Integrity, and Trust, the JDog®️ Junk Removal & Hauling and JDog®️ Carpet Cleaning & Floor Care franchise systems have become a nationwide movement, creating business and employment opportunities for Veterans and Veteran families.  Jerry launched the JDog Junk Removal business in 2011. It was a two-person operation – Jerry hauled junk and Tracy managed the back office. As a Veteran, Jerry gained trust and credibility with customers quickly, and referrals came easy. Within a year, he had more business than one person could handle and began hiring local Veterans who embodied the brand’s values. Through Jerry’s vision and leadership, JDog has since grown to hundreds of locations, 90 percent of which are Veteran owned. To date, the company has created thousands of job opportunities across the

Providing personal and tailored support for franchisees in a rapidly growing system, co-founder and Slim Chickens CEO, Tom Gordon, is the driving leader behind the brand’s goal to have a 600-unit footprint by 2025, and unlike many brands that release large growth numbers, Gordon is leading the team in a manner that makes this goal more attainable with each passing day, month and quarter.  Gordon & co-founder Greg Smart concocted the idea for the fast-casual chicken concept in Greg Smart’s garage, focusing not on the cost of the food but the quality. Focusing solely on chicken, Slim Chickens has seen accelerated growth backed by a commitment to serve traditional Southern hospitality within its communities, while offering the convenience and affordability of fast casual. By developing successful, multi-unit franchisees within the system who are passionate about Slim Chickens, and providing them with top notch site selection and unparalleled franchise business support, delivered by a highly qualified execu