Welcome to Social Geek, the most popular franchise podcast!
Today we are live at Franchise Expo Austin! Host Jack Monson is chatting with the franchise development leaders and CEOs of some the top brands in franchising. We’ll find out about their goals and plans for 2026!
Joining today’s show:
Kyla Dufresne, Foxy Box
Jack Hall, Cicis Pizza
Blaine Young, NaturaLawn of America
Kevin Brickner, The Goddard School
Rhea Lana, Rhea Lana’s Franchise Systems
Jenepher Toups, Zoomin Groomin
Clay Carson, Twisted Egg Shack
Red Boswell, IFPG
Thanks to Citrin Cooperman, Northeast Color, Hughes, and Thunderly
Transcript
AI was not used in the creation of this podcast. This is the Social Geek Radio Network. Hello Geeks and welcome to the Social Geek Podcast. I’m Jack Monson, your host and marketing co-host Celia. Today, we’re live at Franchise Expo Austin, chatting with the franchise development leaders and CEOs of some of the top brands in franchise. We’ll find out about their goals and plans for 2026. All right, today’s show is brought to you by Northeast Color, Hughes, Citrin Cooperman, and before we get going, a quick note from Thunderly. Brands that will grow in 2026 are the brands with visionary thought leaders whose messages are clear and concise. Let the best storytellers in franchising shine a spotlight on your CEO and executive leadership team. Learn more at thunderlymarketing.com. We are kicking off the day at Franchise Expo South. Chatting with a friend of mine, it’s Kyla Dufresne from Foxy Box. What’s going on?
What’s going on, Jack? Nice to see you.
Good to see you south of the border. Usually we see you in all parts north of here.
Yes, you do.
Meaning Canada. So, welcome to the US.
Thank you.
And welcome to Austin.
Thank you. I needed a little sun on this skin.
Yeah, yeah. What do you think of the show so far?
Yeah, it’s great. We made some awesome connections, met some awesome people. We love doing shows like this. We’re always the cool kids on the block here.
Absolutely. And not a lot of health and beauty type franchises here. It’s a lot of food concepts. Love the food concepts. But you guys are really kind of unique in a very unique industry.
Yes, yes.
So tell me about the brand.
Yeah, so we’re Foxy Box Laser and Wax Bars. We do waxing and laser hair removal. We specialize in the art of the Brazilian. We’ve got 25 locations up in Canada, and we’re looking for our first franchisee to bring us south of the border.
Nice. So I would assume places like Texas and maybe the southeast of the US are those really where you’re looking to expand in the US.?
Yeah, you know what, Jack? We have to be pretty strategic about where we come to market in the US because it is different in the US than it is in Canada. Our business model is different. And in Canada, the hair removal market is unregulated. So what that means is that we can train anyone to be a waxer. Our laser company trains all of us, certifies our staff on the laser technology. But here in the US., every state is different as far as laser hair removal. And that’s one of the things that sets us apart in our industry is that there’s a lot of wax bar. There’s European wax bar, European wax centers, got like a thousand locations. But we do laser hair removal as well. It’s a higher ticket item. The margins are much greater. We incorporated that about six years ago and it was a game changer for our business model. So we really, we don’t want to lose that. We want to come to market as a laser and wax bar. And with that though, you have to have a medical director. And so each state is different as far as their requirements. So Texas, for example, you have to have a medical director, but they don’t have to be on site. California, the medical director has to be the one using the laser machine. So we’re not even going to touch California. So, you know, we have to be strategic. And Texas is one of those states that we believe our culture and our vibe really match well. And the requirements for our business model make sense here.
Yeah, I think you would get along really well here in Austin.
We do. Yeah. You know what? I always say Canadians are so friendly, but people in Austin are like friendlier than Canadians. We love it. We love Austin.
Yeah, they’re friendly. And some of them are a little high. So that’s even more friendly. So, well, we look forward to you moving into the US with some franchisees. Is that part of your growth plan and your goals for 2026? Tell me about that.
That is. Yeah, that’s a big part of our growth strategy is tapping into the US market. We’ve had this nice sustainable growth in Canada. And so I’m saying sustainable. We want to grow sustainably in the US as well. But this nice kind of slow growth in Canada, we started franchising six years ago. We’ve got 25 locations now. And we just, you know, our population kind of limits us in Canada. So we’re excited to have our brand here in the US. And, you know, I always say that we’re not just a hair removal concept. We really are a movement to making people feel really great and powerful in their bodies. And one thing that we do really well is, is we find franchisees that are excited about making a positive impact in their communities. We want to leave communities better than how we found them. We hold charitable events every year on International Women’s Day called Foxy Fest, like music festivals. We’re a really cool brand. And so we’re excited to tap into the US where we have that population that we can make even more of a larger impact here.
Yeah, 25 locations in Canada. You could seriously have 25 locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, right? I mean, that’s especially when you’re focused on these communities, not just sort of one big city, but like really kind of hitting the neighborhood.
Yeah, for sure.
So if someone would like to talk to you about the opportunity, where can they reach you? Is website, email, LinkedIn, where do you want to talk to people?
All of those things. So they can find us at our website, foxyboxwaxbar.com. We’ve got a franchising section there. You can book in right away with our Franchise Developer, or you can follow the forum to get some more information. You can follow me, I’m active on LinkedIn, Kyla Dufresne on LinkedIn, or our business is on there as well. I mean, follow us on Instagram and on TikTok because we’re hilarious. And so, I always giggle. I never know what our head of marketing is going to put out, and I laugh all the time. It’s awesome.
Got to stand out somehow, right?
Yeah. So check us out on social media as well. All right.
Very good. Have a great rest of the show, and we look forward to seeing you further down the road at more franchise events.
Thank you, Jack. Thanks for having me.
Austin Unplugged Continues, we are live in Austin, Texas, with MFV Expositions and the Franchise Expo Austin. And someone who I chatted with exactly one year ago today at this same expo is Jack Hall from Cicis Pizza. What’s going on, Jack?
Hi, good morning. Well, I drove in yesterday from the Houston area and looking to have a great show today and tomorrow.
Yeah, it just opened, the doors just opened, and we’re already pretty busy here, so I’m excited.
Yes, it looks good. I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a good year. It’s been one year since we last spoke.
Yeah.
We just finished the Cicis Conference. We had a good turnout there with our franchisees and some of their management team, so it was great to see it. We’ve got 40 years under our belt now, and the founder, Joe Croce, came and spoke at the event, so it was great for me. I’ve been with the brand about a year and a half, so it was good to be able to meet him and hear what he had started 40 years ago, and see how it’s turned out today.
I love that idea of bringing the past and the legacy together with the future, which is really your franchisees.
Right. We have some very tenured franchisees, second, even third generation. Wow. But we have a lot of news, so there were a lot of folks who hadn’t met or ever heard from him, only heard stories, so it was nice. I think it really will elevate 2026 for us. Yeah.
Tell me about 2026. Do you have any goals or overall objectives that you’re working on right now for 2026?
Yes.
As far as me on the development side and operations, you know, training, getting stores opened is a big push. We’ve done very well this year. We’ve got maybe two, possibly three stores we’ll get open, but next year we’re looking to open 18.
Nice.
Plus, minus one or two, and probably units that I’ll develop. I’m looking at about 20 units for next year to sign new franchise agreements.
Excellent.
We’re still looking in our 23 states along that Sun Belt area as our most dominant growth areas.
That was my next question. Where are we going? And it sounds like it’s that Sun Belt, right?
Yes.
We aren’t really looking to move out of those markets. We have a JMC as our supplier. We do weekly deliveries. And for us to go into new markets, it’s costly for that.
It’s all about the supply chain and the pizza business, right?
Exactly.
Yes.
So we try to keep it. And there’s still plenty of room to grow. So we’re just staying with where we are.
Excellent. So Jack, if someone would like to have a conversation with you about an opportunity, where can they reach you?
Well, it’s easy. Phone number 832-533-0247. Or my email is J, the letter J, Paul, H-A-L-L, at cicispizza.com.
Alright, we will find you there. Thank you so much. Good luck with the rest of the show today.
Alrighty. Thank you very much. Great seeing you.
Blaine Young is the VP of Franchise and Business Development at NaturaLawn of America, and he joins me again here in the podcast. So, what’s going on, Blaine?
How are you doing? Good to see you again. It’s good to see you.
It’s been a hot minute since we did a podcast together. I’m glad we could get together here in Austin at Franchise Expo Austin. Tell me, what’s up with your brand these days? What are you guys working on?
NaturaLawn of America has been in the green space in the fertilization. We control tick and mosquito space for over 38 years now.
In the green space before it was cool to be in the green space, right?
Our founder, Phil Katron, was cool before it was cool to be cool. And actually, there was a lot of resistance. Now everyone’s embracing it, but we were the leaders.
Nice.
And we’re the top organic-based lawn care company in the United States of America. Over 128,000 customers in 27 states and the District of Columbia. And the most important thing, though, is we’re a family-owned company. We’re not publicly traded. We’re not private equity. Nothing against those. Not PEVECC or anything.
Right. I’ll tell you, that’s a rarity in this industry and actually in this room right now.
Well, you know, it’s one of our foundations, one of our pillars. When I talk to franchise prospects, I say, you know, the gentleman who came up with this incredible idea and concept is still involved, to a degree. His son, Jesse K. Tron, and his daughter, Teresa Smith, our Senior Vice President, now are taking it to the second generation. And we plan to stay a family-owned and operated business for as long as I can see because they have several children themselves. So I like that.
Yeah, I do too. And especially in franchising, where we’re used to hearing that from the franchisees, that, you know, dad owned it, now the daughter is taking over and we’ve got second and third generations taking over the family business. But in your case, it’s with the franchisor as well.
Absolutely.
That’s unique and it’s very special.
And many of our franchisees are seeing that second generation take the banner and do great things with it. But we’re in Austin, Texas because we do have a location in Houston. Texas is a great market that we could see four to five locations here. So we’re here to see who would like to learn more about NaturaLawn of America. We’re primarily a Northeast company. We did start in the Maryland area. So that’s kind of indicative of where we started. Now we’re really expanding into the South and the Midwest. When I say that we’re expanding, one of the unique things, we’re not here to sell franchisee franchises. We’re here to find franchise family members. So we usually try to only bring on somewhere between four to six new franchisees a year because we want to make sure they get the support. We want them to be successful. So we’re not just here to sell franchises. We’re looking for people who want to be members of our family.
That’s good to hear. So they also, when they do well, you do well. So I think that makes a lot of sense these days. If anyone would like to have a conversation with you about the American Dream, where can they reach you? Where’s the best place?
You can email me at beyoung at naturalawn.com. Now the key is, remember, NaturaLawn is one L, not two L’s.
One word, one L.
Or what I like to do is, my cell phone is 301-524-1867. I don’t care if it’s a Saturday, a Sunday, six, seven o’clock at night.
The American Dream doesn’t sleep.
No, no, and that’s what we’re about. And I’m willing to help answer any questions you may have. And also, we have a lot of great information that we can get to you about many of our successful family operations and franchisees.
All right, very good. Well, great seeing you again. Good luck at the show for the rest of the weekend and have a great 2026.
And remember, naturalawn.com is a great place to go to get a lot more information.
Back in a moment after a quick word from Northeast Color. You know what keeps franchise executives tossing and turning? Brand consistency across hundreds of locations while still hitting those opening deadlines and budgets. Northeast Color has been solving this exact problem for over 20 years. They’ve learned that the franchisees who get this right start their signage conversations early. We’re talking 90 days before opening minimum. That’s how Northeast Color helps clients avoid the last-minute scrambles and budget surprises that can derail a launch. Because here’s the thing. Your walls are always telling your brand’s story. Northeast Color makes sure that every wall tells it exactly the same way. From your first location to your 500th. Check out northeastcolor.com to see how they guarantee brand consistency across your entire network. Using digital menu boards is a strategic decision that can boost revenue and improve customer experience. Hughes Digital Signage delivers immersive digital experiences that engage customers, employees and visitors alike. Show your customers’ targeted communications, in-store pics or video of menu items they can order. Exhibit promoted items that match in-market ads or highlight items that meet inventory availability. Hughes Digital Media Solutions are easy to use and managed via an online administrative dashboard. Reach out now to find out how Hughes can become your digital menu board and digital signage provider. Visit hughes.com/franchise. Citrin Cooperman is proud to be the home of one of the leading franchising practices in the country. With over 40 years of franchise experience, Citrin Cooperman provides a full range of services to a vast number of franchise concepts. They work with the owners, operators, controllers and CFOs of a wide range of franchisers and multi-unit franchisees to help them establish their brands and grow their businesses to the next level. The Citrin Cooperman franchise practice is comprised of experienced CFE accredited professionals, providing franchisers and multi-unit franchisees the guidance and insight they need to minimize uncertainty, meet compliance and contractual obligations and stay focused on building their businesses. For more information, please contact Aaron Czajtowski and Michael Iannuzzi at citrincooperman.com. Chating now with Kevin Brickner, he’s the Vice President of Franchise Sales at Goddard. Kevin, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks for having me.
We’re here at Franchise Expo Austin in the podcast zone. Is this your first event at one of the MFE shows?
It is not. I’ve actually been to a couple of these shows and as a team we’ve participated in the California West Coast shows as well as New York.
All right, very good. So what do you think so far? Pretty good crowd coming in for the first time.
Really good crowd coming in. I was actually impressed when we first walked in through the show. I actually had to kind of navigate through the crowd, which was great.
Yeah, we like to see that early in the day. So tell me what’s going on at Goddard these days. What are you guys working on?
Working on a lot of stuff. I mean, we are the premier provider of early childhood education. We service families from six weeks to six years old. They’re kiddos. You know, we’re most proud recently of launching our Wonder of Learning proprietary curriculum that we provide to all of our families. We provide that to our franchisees for a way to deliver that curriculum effectively.
And that’s something that you guys developed in turn.
Correct, correct. Yeah, we have an Education Department along with an Educational Advisory Board that helps evolve and stay top of mind on everything education.
Is that something that the potential franchise owners that we’re talking to, is that something that maybe is a little surprising to them? Or they maybe weren’t expecting that?
I don’t know if it’s surprising. I think some of the folks we talk to, I think it’s table stakes. When you’re buying early childhood education franchise, you expect the delivery of a curriculum. In this case, we are able to deliver it to their teachers effectively on a daily basis. Good, strong teachers can actually modify that to the speed and effectiveness of their students. But those teachers that are not as seasoned and as much experienced have the ability to just run with that lesson plan as it states there.
You’re only as good as the teachers, right? So tell me about what 2026 looks like for you and your team. What are you working on as far as goals and objectives? Where are you going to grow, all of that sort of thing?
You know, the last three years we have set records in terms of the amount of demand for new franchises. So we think that we’re going to, that tailwind, we’re going to be riding into 2026. You know, we’re going to be more opportunistic in where our density is as a brand. This brand started in the Philadelphia market, Philadelphia, New Jersey. So we have a lot of density there. So we’ll be opportunistic with some very selective growth options in those markets. And we’ve kind of worked the spread down to the Atlanta and Southeast area. We’ve seen a lot of opportunity west of the Mississippi. We see some white space there. That’s why we’re here at the Austin Show. We have 12 to 15 trade areas that we’ve identified within the Austin market. And we actually have a lot of opportunity kind of going into the San Antonio. So that’s why we came here today.
And I would assume it’s really sort of following where people in this country are moving to because most of those people have kids. Or they will soon, huh? Yes.
Yeah, we certainly look at immigration patterns through the United States and where people are going. We do a lot of research identifying trade areas by looking at, you know, not just household incomes and number of kiddos under the age of five, but we’re looking at travel patterns and stuff like that to see where we should put them in.
Excellent. So if someone would like to have a conversation with you about that opportunity, where’s the best place to meet you?
I mean, the easiest way is to go to goddardschoolfranchise.com. We have a wealth of information there that, and you’ll be able to contact me and any one of my team members to answer any question. Within that website, you can actually self-schedule at that point in time. We’d be glad to talk to anybody that has any interest in learning a little bit more about us.
All right. Very good. Kevin, thanks so much for joining me today. Have a great rest of the show and a fantastic 2026.
Awesome. You as well. I appreciate you having us.
Chatting now with the founder of Rhea Lana’s Franchise Systems. I love the name, by the way. It’s Rhea Lana. Welcome to the podcast.
Hi, Jack. It’s a pleasure to be here.
So, what do you think of Franchise Expo Austin so far?
We are having so much fun. I mean, we have met people, not only from Austin, but from all over the world. Like, it’s been really, really fun.
Yeah, you’ve had a pretty busy day at your booth already. I was spying on you a little bit over there, and it looked like you had a lot of people having good conversations with you.
We really have. It’s been fun. It’s our first time to participate in this particular expo, and so we’ve had just a lot of fun getting to know people, and again, where they’re from, what they’re looking for, what’s their why, you know, what brought them here today.
Yeah.
I love that idea of just spending a little bit of time with someone so they can see if this is something that they want to engage in, and you can see if it’s something that you want to engage in with them. So tell me about the brand.
You’ve been around for quite a while.
I’m a founder. I actually started in my living room almost 30 years ago. I was a mom trying to live from paycheck to paycheck with three small kids, and so we do children’s consignment pop-up events, and seasonal, so it’s a side business. Okay. But we franchised about 15 years ago, and I work out of Central Arkansas, have a corporate team there. I love working and leading my corporate team, and we are currently in about 26 states, and have about 120 franchises, and growing.
So it’s consignment events, so there’s not a brick and mortar. You’re actually doing pop-up events that take place, I don’t know, how many of these do you do in a year?
We just do two a year, typically. Now, once in the fall, once in the spring, sometimes some of our franchise owners will do a holiday event, but yes, it’s a short-term, high-energy, high-momentum event. We basically take in merchandise the first week, and then we set it all up like a beautiful marketplace, like a department store, and then shoppers will come in and shop the second week. Then we have a wonderful thing at the end of our events that we love, and it’s a free shop where foster families come in and get things for free. Also military, some of those lower tiers in the military. So that’s really close to our heart, and we love to be able to do that.
Sure. I love that idea too of doing something that you’re in a very unique position to help some of those families. There’s not a lot of other brands here that could do that kind of thing for those families.
Well, when we go into a community, it’s really important that we give back in that community. And you know, especially in these days, there’s a lot of families in need. And so you’re right, we have tangible things that families need. Children’s clothes and shoes and toys and baby gear and furniture all in excellent condition. So it’s all looking for a home.
And the franchise opportunity itself is quite unique too, because like I said, it’s not a brick and mortar and you’re doing just a couple of events per year. So tell us who is a good candidate? Who is a great successful franchisee? What does that person do?
Well, I’ve been doing this a while and there’s not just a snapshot of what exactly it looks like. But I would say it’s really for the mom, you know, a mom especially, because they’re our target customer. And so that makes a good franchise owner. If she knows the needs that moms are facing, really in all forms of life, also all seasons of life though, a young mom who has small kids may not have the financial resources yet to get into the business, but she may. And so if she does, that’s awesome. Sometimes it’s even someone later in life who, like even my age, the older you get, you might have some more financial resources. I’ve seen a lot of moms and daughters go into business together. But we are female-owned for the most part because we want them to be women who are connecting with their customers out there.
Very good. And I like that idea too of maybe a mother-daughter team. I think that’s something that maybe we didn’t see 15, 20 years ago in franchising. We’re seeing more and more sort of that two-generation team of happening within a family.
Yes. And we’ve honestly seen it quite a bit in our business through the years because honestly, mom probably has a little more resources. Yeah. You know, she would love an opportunity to go into business with her daughter. And sometimes they don’t want to just buy some huge franchise. You know, they want to just kind of go in at a smaller scale, which is what we offer. And again, it’s not full time. So it’s a great way to do business together, but it not be necessarily all consuming. And then typically, honestly, the mom will typically work her way out. Like she doesn’t long enough.
She’s got the exit strategy. The daughter might have the network, but the mom has the exit strategy. That’s a good way to look at it. So what does 2026 look like for your organization? Any big plans or goals or anything that you’re really shooting for in 2026?
We are just excited to grow. It’s one reason we’re here even at this expo. We’re going to do some different things than what we’ve done before. We’ve really just kind of grown organically. Like people kind of have to find us to grow. And so we’re doing some, we’re coming to these expos. I’ve done quite a bit of podcast guesting as a matter of fact. Just reaching some different folks. And we started out in central Arkansas. And that’s kind of where our presence is pretty heavily there in that part of the country. And so we are looking to head north and south and east and west and really just grow our footprint. All right.
Well, we’re glad you’re here in Texas. I think there’s still probably a lot of growth left in this state for you and a lot of friends here. So thank you for being here. If someone would like to have a conversation with you about the opportunity, where’s the best place to reach you? Website, LinkedIn, email, where do you want to talk to people?
All the things. You can find me. My email is simple. It’s RheaLana at rhealana.com. It’s R-H-E-A-L-A-N-A. I’m on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, all over the place. So I have a great team too. We would love to share about franchising opportunities.
All right. Very good. Thank you for sharing your story and have a great rest of the show here in Austin and a great 2026.
Thanks so much, Jack.
We are back at Franchise Expo Austin chatting now with Jeniffer Toups. She’s with Zoomin Groomin. Jennifer, how are you?
I’m doing great. Thanks, Jack.
Who is your companion here with you today?
I have Rosie with me here today. She is our little mascot for the mobile grooming band.
Rosie looks like she’s having a good time, but I don’t know. She’s a little shy about the microphones.
Yeah, she doesn’t have a lot to say. She gets a little shy that way.
I think she wants to lay down. So do I at this point.
It’s nap time.
It’s definitely nap time here at Franchise Expo Austin. Jeniffer, tell me about your involvement with Zoomin Groomin. You’re a Franchisee, correct?
I am a Franchisee, and I am also an area representative for the Austin area. So one of the reasons that I am here today, and I have been with Zoomin Groomin for about two and a half years.
Nice. So tell me about the concept. It’s obviously a mobile concept, right?
It is. So our entire salon is in the back of the van. We have the entire setup, the mobile table, the tub. Everything is in there. We have our own water, our own power supply, so we don’t plug in to anybody’s houses. So the groomers that we have that work for us, they all roll up to our customer’s houses. They go up to the front door. They pick up their dog or cat, take them out to the van. They give them an awesome spa day. Get them looking pearly white and sparkling. Put cute little bandanas on them, and they walk them back up to the house.
I like the idea of the mobile pet grooming because I have one of those dogs that hates leaving home. It is not like going anywhere because it’s usually somewhere bad. So the fact that you could come to him on his property, that would make all the difference, I think.
It is huge. It is very much a concierge service. People appreciate the fact that, one, if you’ve got a dog that gets car sick, if you have an elderly dog, or if you’re elderly and you can’t get a big 60 pound dog into your car, well, or just busy families. They’ve got kids going to soccer practice, the whole nine yards. They have busy schedules, new babies. We come to you. We make your life easy.
Yeah. Forget the traffic in a place like Austin.
Yes. The traffic is terrible here.
I come to Austin about twice a year, and every time I come here, the trip from the airport is just a little bit longer.
It does. Austin is growing everywhere. It’s growing everywhere. So yes, coming to you and you not having to get out of your house is awesome.
So that’s actually a good segue into talking about the opportunity. So Austin, obviously one of those parts of America that’s just growing like crazy, more opportunities here and putting your area developer hat on. Are there more opportunities in places like Austin now with so many people moving?
Oh, absolutely. I mean, I would say even the territory that I currently own, the amount of growth going on there is every six months, there’s new developments. So my population is continuously growing. One of the benefits with Zoomin Groomin is when you buy that territory, it is your territory as the owner. So other owners cannot call on your customer base. It is yours to grow and to build. And there is a huge need. People in Austin love their dogs. They are always outside with their dogs. You see them constantly. People want to know where they can take their dogs to the restaurant. I mean, I see dogs in the grocery stores. I mean, there’s no place that’s off limits for pets. So yeah, Austin is a, it’s booming. It is so pet friendly. And mobile grooming is definitely making its headway.
Yeah. And I’m guessing you see a lot of growth in 2026, both for your own territory and for the other territories you’ve been.
Oh yes, absolutely. I mean, just what I see in my territory alone is crazy. And when I go to like South Austin, South Austin is still primarily open. They have just as much growth going on. I’m driven down there a few times. I’m kind of like you. If you’re an Austinite, you understand this. You don’t drive south of the river. If you live north, if you’re south, you don’t go north of the river. But the few times I’ve ventured out south, I can’t believe the amount of growth out that way either. Like there’s roads now that go places that I didn’t even know existed anymore.
Right, right. Great. Well, I think as the country grows, especially markets like Austin is in this huge growth mode, I see a lot of great opportunities for you and for other franchisees with Zoomin Groomin. If someone would like to connect to you and maybe, if someone would like to connect with you and maybe ask a few more questions or find out a little bit more about the opportunities, where can they reach you?
So, you can email me at groominaustin at zoomingroomin.com. You can also call us directly or text 512-456-8600. Happy to answer any questions you might have about being an owner, being a customer, whatever your questions are.
All right. I think we finally woke up Rosie.
She did. She made an appearance.
She’s getting excited about the franchise opportunities here with Zoomin Groomin. Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us today. Have a great rest of the show here at Franchise Expo Austin.
Thanks Jack for having me. I appreciate it.
Chatting now with Clay Carson. He’s with a couple of brands, and he does franchise development and real estate. Clay, welcome to the podcast, and tell me about your brand or brands.
All right, well thanks for having me. Yeah, so I represent two brands, the Toasted Yolk Cafe and the Twisted Egg Shack, both brands based out of Houston. And the Twisted Egg Shack is actually the sister brand of the Toasted Yolk Cafe. Toasted Yolk is casual dining and was founded in 2010. And it’s developed actually into one of the fastest growing premium franchise breakfast and lunch brands in the US. 50 locations opening, or open, 17 opening next year. Just tremendous growth, kind of in spite of everything, frankly. Whether it’s lending or whatever, you know, so grow up with it.
Lending, real estate, all of the fun things that we’re doing at these stations.
Yeah, so it continues to grow. It’s somewhat surprisingly in the casual dining space, the year-over-year sales have really not fallen off, which is very interesting. We’ve had a lot of our brethren in the dinner space have seen some, it was pretty substantial this year over year. And fortunately, we’ve not, which is fantastic. Keep going. Yeah, it was interesting. So I think we learned a lot during COVID on how to operate as nimbly as possible. And it was really funny whether it was, I guess, very difficult situations do inspire some creativity. So Twisted Egg Shack, which is the quick service, little brother of the Social Geek actually came to fruition after COVID. We were trying to figure out, during the shutdown, how do we get product into people’s hands? And we knew everything had to be portable to a certain extent, whether people were coming in, it was third party delivery. Or we were actually taking the product to people. So we switched over at Toast of Yolk, which again is Casual Dining. We switched over very much to a very portable type of menu. So that was bowls and tacos, burritos, sandwiches, things of that nature. And we would actually take those to police stations, firehouses. We had set up shop in multiple hospitals where we would provide food for the medical community at that point. But it got us to thinking, wow, we can make this portable. So the growth with Twisted Egg Shack, just in the last 12 months, we had opened our first location in Beaumont, Texas. The goal was to do a million dollars our first year. It was a former Jack in the Box space that had been converted over, that we converted over surprisingly and expensively. But at the end of the day, the goal was a million bucks. We finished year one at 1.41 million, so we very much exceeded that.
That’s a good year.
Yeah. That’s where we see the growth. A little COVID inspiration inspired another brand, and surprisingly, very surprisingly, their gist is not really any competition in that drive-through category with pre-mim coffee, as well as pre-mim made orderly food, which is a bit surprising.
So tell me about the day part of the Twisted Egg Shack. Is it open till mid-afternoon, or what’s the typical hour?
Yeah, we’ve kept the hours very, well, actually not very similar, the same, 7 to 3, as we have had, you know, previous 15 years with Toast and Goat. We’re seeing the trend now. We’ve seen this really the last couple of years. The younger generations, Gen Alpha, Gen Z to a certain extent, they drink coffee a lot longer than us old timers do. You know, it’s not uncommon to see pretty, significant coffee sales even later in the afternoon. So we’re looking at, in certain areas, staying open later, just based on proximity to different traffic generators, like they’re going to happy hour and having coffee. Of course, yeah.
Very interesting. So, tell me about 2026. What does that look like for you when it comes to franchise development? Do you have certain goals for one of the brands and different goals for the other brand? Or where do you really see the growth happening for your entire organization?
That’s a great question. You know, I think with everything that we’ve learned in the past couple of years and really starting on more purposeful development, if that makes sense, you just have to be more on purpose with everything you do. You’ve seen increased costs in build out. You’ve seen increased costs obviously in food and labor and some other things. You can’t rest. You have to really work on your business continually. So, what we want to do is we really want to take advantage of the real estate opportunities with, you know, unfortunately a lot of fast food places have closed. And that makes perfect candidates for the growth of Egg Shack, which naturally kind of fits into that space. So, we continue to do that. We’d like to get 10 locations open with Egg Shack this next year. We’re already scheduled to open 17, which is pretty impressive, increasing your worth by 30% already with Toasted Yolk.
So, and they can take a pretty small footprint, I would assume, right? Yes. Mostly a drive-through.
It is, yeah, yeah, yeah, much more so. And it’s just, you know, Egg Shack is like a little piece of Play-Doh, you know, the old saying is, you can’t be everything to everyone. Yeah. We damped your drive with Egg Shack and we’re close. We can’t act as a cafe. So, if you want to come in and hang out, have a mimosa on the patio, you certainly can. If you’re in a hurry, you know, you need to go through the drive-through based on time, that’s not a problem either. But again, it hits on all cylinders. There’s not a weak link when it comes to the quality of coffee, which is 100 percent, you know, really gourmet. We’ve worked on that a lot. But the food matches, so there’s not a deficit, you know. Oh, you have great food, but your coffee is terrible. We’ll mention names. So, you know, it really does. And we’re surprisingly getting people through the drive-through in less than three minutes. So it does take a little bit longer, but the quality is there. It’s toasted yoke fast.
Got it. So if anyone would like to have a conversation with you about the opportunity, where can they reach you? Where’s the best place to connect?
Well, there’s this place called Nate’s Bar and Grill. No, just kidding.
I meant online.
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, anytime you can reach me at just Franchise at twistedeggshack.com, is the easiest place to reach me. People can always call me. It’s Clay Carson 1 on LinkedIn. If you want to check out my previous stints, I suppose. But yeah, I’d love to talk with anyone that has interest and appreciate the time.
All right. Very good. Thanks so much for joining us today. Good luck at the rest of Franchise Expo Austin and good luck in 2026.
You bet. Thanks so much.
All right.
We are back at Franchise Expo Austin in the podcast zone, chatting now with Red Boswell. What’s going on, Red?
Buddy, what is not going on? Great to see you, Jack.
Yeah. Thank you for welcoming us into your home state of Texas.
Tejas, it is the greatest state in the union. Do you know how they random trivia for you on the next Trivial for Spades? Okay. Okay. You ever been to Six Flags?
Yes.
You know how they got the name?
I’m guessing it has something to do with the flag of Texas.
It does indeed. Yes, sir.
And also the flag of the United States.
Okay. You got two. We are the only state in the union that’s been under six different flags. And it was founded in Texas. Mexico, Spain, France, England, US, and Texas. Wow. And the Texas flag is the only one that is legally can be flown the same height as the American flag. Is that bizarre or what? Yeah.
Very good.
Fun times.
All right. So back here on Trivia Friday with Red Boswell, tell us what’s going on in your world with IFPG and Franchising in general. And I assume you’re going to blow it out again in 2026.
You know, that is the plan, of course. As we all would say, we’re going to blow it out. I do sincerely, genuinely believe 2026 will be the best year ever in Franchising. We, yes, I’m guilty of being overly optimistic every day of my life, but…
Dude, if we weren’t overly optimistic, we’d be in a different business.
Amen. But dude, I think all the winds are pointing our direction. It is funny to me, Jack, and you probably have seen this too. About once a week for the last decade or so, someone has said to me, Dude, Red, is it slow as can be? Has everything died around here? And then about once a week, every week for the last 10 years, I’ll hear one or two people go, Dude, we’re on fire. We’re killing it. Oh my gosh, it’s so great. So, there’s always some up and downs in any business, but man, we are really psyched about the new year.
Yeah, I think so, too. I think there have been so many cases of people holding back a little bit, maybe sitting on some opportunities and just not hitting the go button quite yet. I also think that means we’re not going to have another year of people waiting around. They’re either going to do it now or they’re not going to.
In some cases, rates, interest rates are getting better. SBA has gotten more organized, a little more aggressive. Structures in place. The joint employer issue has gotten out of the way. The American Franchise Act is looking bipartisan, going through. So many awesome things are coming our way. Consultants are at an all-time high.
You just mentioned the three biggest challenges for a lot of franchisers and franchisees. Real estate, lending, and the government. All three of those areas seem to be easing back one way or another. It’s going to be better than 2024. That’s all I can guarantee.
We were blessed in 2024 like never before. So I’ll take it.
Any other big plans for 2026 that you guys are working on right now?
We only have two hours, right?
Yeah.
Okay.
We’ll start recording here just a moment.
IFPG was recently acquired again by a wonderful investment group and part of the reason we chose them, LLCP, is they understand our appetite for synergistic acquisitions, bringing in wonderful suppliers that know franchising, that give back and that our members are already working with or spending money with. So for IFPG, the new year holds acquisitions that our members will benefit from and save money with and we can take to the next level. And then we are going, I said last year we were doubling down, this year we’re even, next year we’re even tripling down in the supplier space. We’re doing more and more with our group purchasing organization and all the support we’re giving to suppliers to connect them with great franchisers. Those are a couple of things. I mean, I could talk all day about how we’re adding more great consultants, but that’s a given.
Okay, good. All right. Well, thank you for that. Thanks for sharing sort of your crystal ball for 2026. And have a great rest of the show here and a great rest of this year.
Buddy, I’ll see you in probably five times before then, but certainly in Fort Lauderdale at the next Expo, right? All right.
Well, we will see you there at Franchise Expo South, January 16th and 17th.
Bring it.
Thanks to all of today’s guests and thanks to MFV Expositions for hosting us at Franchise Expo Austin. Thanks also to our sponsors, Northeast Color, Hughes, Citrin Cooperman and Thunderly. And thanks to you for listening, telling a friend about us and staying connected on the Social Geek Radio Network.