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This is where I share my experiences living, working and doing business in over 140 countries world-wide and counting. I hope these experiences could be of use to whoever happens to connect with me here.
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Multi-Unit Franchisee Concentration 2026: What 19% Controlling 59% Means for New Investors
Multi-Unit Franchisee Concentration 2026: What 19% Controlling 59% Means for New Investors As of 2025, 19.3% of franchisees operate multiple units and collectively control 58.8% of all franchised locations—a critical signal buried in the FRANdata/IFA 2026 Franchising Economic Outlook (February 2026). Before you commit capital, you need to understand who already owns the system around you and what their dominance will cost your expansion prospects and profitability. Question 1
Phi Van Nguyen
May 273 min read


Distressed Franchise Due Diligence: What Red Robin Reveals
Distressed Franchise Due Diligence: What Red Robin Reveals Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (NASDAQ: RRGB) reported Q1 2026 results last week, and buried beneath the margin improvements is a dynamic every sophisticated franchise investor should study in real time. CEO David Pace signaled the brand might end up 65% to 75% company-operated, implying the sale of up to 15% of its store system. Six units closed in Q1 alone, with roughly 20 expected for the full year. This is distressed f
Phi Van Nguyen
May 274 min read
Summary of the Book "Nhượng quyền khởi nghiệp" by Nguyễn Phi Vân
Summary of the Book "Nhượng quyền khởi nghiệp" by Nguyễn Phi Vân Nhượng quyền khởi nghiệp is a Vietnamese-language book by Nguyễn Phi Vân arguing that franchising is not a shortcut to business ownership but a disciplined system for replicating proven value — and that first-time operators in Vietnam are buying into that system far too casually. Published for aspiring franchise operators and early-stage investors, the book sits at the intersection of entrepreneurship education
Phi Van Nguyen
May 264 min read
What Is Go Global Holdings?
What Is Go Global Holdings? Go Global Holdings is a Vietnam-headquartered franchise development organization chaired by Nguyễn Phi Vân, built to help Vietnamese and Southeast Asian brands structure, fund, and execute international franchise expansion. It is not a franchisor in the conventional sense. It is the infrastructure layer behind a brand's cross-border move — the entity that sits between an ambitious SEA brand owner and the international master franchisee, area develo
Phi Van Nguyen
May 265 min read
Summary of the Book "Tôi Đi Tìm Tôi" by Nguyễn Phi Vân
Summary of the Book "Tôi Đi Tìm Tôi" by Nguyễn Phi Vân Tôi đi tìm tôi — translated literally as I Go in Search of Myself — is a Vietnamese-language personal development book by Nguyễn Phi Vân, author, franchise strategist, and one of Southeast Asia's most recognized voices on self-directed growth and global readiness. The book's central argument is this: most people spend their lives building a career, a reputation, or a résumé without first establishing who they actually are
Phi Van Nguyen
May 265 min read


Micro-Franchising and Recurring Revenue: Why Southeast Asia Is the Next Testing Ground
Micro-Franchising and Recurring Revenue: Why Southeast Asia Is the Next Testing Ground Every franchise conversation in Southeast Asia eventually lands on the same three topics: bubble tea, fast food, and who has the rights to the next American casual dining brand. Meanwhile, the category quietly generating some of the most resilient unit economics in US franchising right now involves picking up dog waste. That gap in attention is where the opportunity lives. --- What Micro-Fr
Phi Van Nguyen
May 265 min read


When the Legal Walls Come Down: How to Build a Franchise System That Doesn't Need Non-Competes
When the Legal Walls Come Down: How to Build a Franchise System That Doesn't Need Non-Competes The FTC's enforcement action against Rollins — ordering the pest-control giant to stop enforcing non-competes on more than 18,000 employees — is being read as a labor story. It is not. For anyone building or operating a franchise system, it is a stress test arriving in the form of a headline. The question it forces is simple and uncomfortable: if the legal walls came down tomorrow,
Phi Van Nguyen
May 255 min read


Why SEA's Franchise Moment Is Now — And What Could Still Kill It
Why SEA's Franchise Moment Is Now — And What Could Still Kill It The signals that serious franchise investors track are all flashing green across Southeast Asia right now. Vietnam posted 7.8% GDP growth in Q1 2025. Regional capital is committing to long-cycle commercial real estate at conviction scale. A consumer middle class that has been "almost ready" for a decade is finally arriving at the spending threshold where branded, repeatable experience becomes a daily habit rathe
Phi Van Nguyen
May 255 min read


Micro-Franchising and Recurring Revenue: Why Southeast Asia Is the Next Testing Ground
Micro-Franchising and Recurring Revenue: Why Southeast Asia Is the Next Testing Ground A franchise selling pet-waste removal on a monthly subscription basis sounds, on first hearing, like a punchline. Look at the unit economics and it stops being funny very quickly. Scoop Brothers, a US-based pet-waste-removal franchise, runs on a model that most traditional franchise investors would overlook entirely: sub-$50K entry cost, a service that customers pay for on repeat every mont
Phi Van Nguyen
May 256 min read
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