Poetry & Essays

Three million YouTube subscribers. More than 2 billion video views. Seventy-six restaurants. Those are the numbers Tahini's, the Canadian shawarma chain, shared this week in a Franchising.com feature about how its social content turns fans into franchisees. One Toronto franchisee, Juliet Noronha, was introduced to the brand by her son, a big fan of the videos. The chain now runs 76 restaurants with 70 franchisees and plans 30 more across Canada and the United States over the

$915,432 in assets. Almost $2.4 million in liabilities. More than $783,000 of that debt is lease guarantees. Those are the numbers Picklr, the indoor pickleball franchisor, put in front of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas when it filed for Chapter 11, according to Franchise Times on October 13. The company says it has more than 75 locations worldwide and does not expect to close any clubs in the near future. Its subsidiaries and franchisees are not

On October 12, a Florida restaurant operator most people outside the industry have never heard of changed its name. Fresh Dining Concepts is now Green Shoot Brands. The rebrand itself is housekeeping. The numbers behind it are not. In 2019 the company ran 40 Auntie Anne's pretzel shops, by its own count. Today it operates 388 locations across eight brands - Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Dave's Hot Chicken, Jamba, Little Caesars, Nothing Bundt Cakes and PopUp Bagels - in 21

On October 8, Subway announced Blueprint, a new restaurant design and brand program for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The detail that matters sits near the end of the release: from January 1, 2027, every new Subway restaurant and every remodel in the region must be built to it. That one sentence turns a design launch into a capital decision for franchise owners, less than three months after the announcement. And the region is wider than its name suggests. According to t

Five hundred. On October 8, 2026, Dave's Hot Chicken opened its 500th restaurant, in Phoenix. The brand started in early 2017 as a late-night parking-lot pop-up in East Hollywood, with $900, portable fryers and folding tables. It is a good story, and it will be told as a speed story. I would read it differently. The 500 restaurants that are open are the past. The restaurants that have been promised but not yet built are the part that decides what this brand is worth, to its o

Nearly half. That is the share of closed deals at Vast Coworking Group locations that began as an inquiry arriving before 9 a.m., after 5 p.m. or on a weekend: 47.6%, according to early results the franchisor released on October 7 alongside a new partnership with AI company Uniti. Two more numbers sit right next to it. After-hours inquiries already make up 45.8% of all inquiries, and the company says that share keeps rising. And those after-hours leads convert at a rate about

Sapo: Meritage Hospitality Group, one of the largest Wendy's franchisees in the United States, filed for Chapter 11 on September 17, 2026—one day after Wendy's issued a termination notice citing $146.9 million in claimed obligations. For multi-unit investors, the filing shows what happens when unit economics break: fixed costs don't flex while traffic falls and commodity prices spike. Figures are published by third parties, compiled as-is, and may change. We do not independen

Short answer: whatever the United States finally decides about joint employment in franchising, the first document anyone will read to test it is your operations manual. The American Franchise Act now moving through Congress would draw the line at "substantial direct and immediate control" over a franchisee's workers. Your manual, your training curriculum and your software settings are where that control is written down, or where its absence can be proven. Where the bill stan

A U.S. fast-casual group just cut its franchise fee in half. The more interesting story is who gets the biggest discount, and why. On September 10, 2026, WOWorks, the parent company of Saladworks, Frutta Bowls, Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, The Simple Greek, Barberitos and Zoup! Eatery, announced a three-tier incentive program for new franchisees. It runs for a limited time, through the first quarter of 2027. On the surface it reads like a sale. Half off the franchise fee. Ha

What the first Australian Franchise Outlook reveals about consumers, would-be franchisees, and where franchise growth is heading next. Australia is one of the most mature franchise markets in the world. It has more franchise systems per head of population than the United States. Around 1,300 franchise networks and 90,000 franchised businesses generate A$174 billion a year and employ more than half a million people. About 60% of franchisors have been operating for more than a

What This Model Actually Is Senior meal delivery is not meal kit delivery, not grocery delivery, and not restaurant takeout. It is a scheduled, regular, nutritionist-designed meal service aimed at adults — typically 70 and older — who want to remain in their own homes but face genuine challenges with meal preparation: physical limitations, cognitive decline, dietary complexity from chronic conditions, or simply the isolation and reduced motivation that comes with eating alone

On September 17, 2026, Meritage Hospitality Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company operates 314 Wendy's restaurants across 15 US states and employs roughly 9,000 people. It is the largest franchise operator bankruptcy of the year. The filing came one day after Wendy's corporate issued a notice terminating all of Meritage's franchise agreements, citing $146.9 million in total claims — including $27.4 million in past-due royalties and $119.5 million in Co