Welcome to Social Geek, the most popular franchise podcast!
We’re back live at Franchise Expo Austin!
In Part Two, host Jack Monson is chatting with more 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:
Scott McIntosh, Mr Gatti’s Pizza
Marcus Fuller, Beef-A-Roo
Bruce Granger, NaturaLawn of America
Ty Brewster, FranReal
Randolph Clarito, 1 Heart Caregiver Services
Josh Kerns, Conquest Padel Club
Chris Wellbaum, Level Up Leak Detection
John Doty, Freshslice Pizza
Jack Stewart, SMB Franchise Advisors
Rodney Frank, Yonutz
And we wrap up the event with Martin Joksimovic, President of MFV Expositions, who gives us a preview of the franchise expos in 2026 in great cities like Fort Lauderdale, New York, Dallas, Cincinnati, and Phoenix.
Thanks to the whole MFV Expositions sales & marketing team for a fantastic year: Linda Thompson, Justin Wood, Frank Fazio, Simone Smith, Rafael Arango.
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. The 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. Back at Franchise Expo Austin, chatting now with Scott McIntosh of Mr Gatti’s Pizza. Scott, welcome to the podcast.
Hey, thanks for having me, Jack.
What do you think of the show so far?
You know, it’s been great. Austin was home-based for Mr Gatti’s for many decades, so it feels special being back, specifically with all of the folks with having so much memories with our brand in here for so long.
Yeah, it seems to be one of those brands where if you’re from other parts of the world, you might not be as familiar with it. But when I talk to my friends who grew up in Texas, they know all about Mr Gatti’s. So give our audience a little bit of an education on Mr Gatti’s. Tell us about the brand.
Sure, sure. Well, Mr Gatti’s was founded here in Austin in 1969. Over the years, it grew rapidly through Texas and most of the southern states. We are famous for our Family Entertainment Center concept, which mixes great pizza served in a buffet format, multiple dining rooms, party rooms, and our world famous arcades in the very back. Truly Family Entertainment. But with that, Mr Gatti’s would do the quality of the food. We feed as many six-year-olds as we do 60-year-olds. And in the Austin market specifically, because of the sheer volume of these locations, we developed a delivery and carryout model that complements those Family Entertainment Centers. And in Austin specifically, you can find a Family Entertainment Center with one of our delivery and carryout stores directly across the street from it that serves, just like you would think, pizza to go.
I like that idea of taking that experience that people are used to, you know, going for the games and the fun and the party and that kind of thing. But you’re sort of taking that experience home with you.
You bet. You bet. Well, our pizza, the recipe for it is pretty famous. We still make our dough fresh in our restaurants every day. We use an aged smoked provolone cheese instead of mozzarella, which is really unique. It’s got a very distinct flavor profile. And of course, our proprietary sauce, it’s been a family secret for going on now 56 years. But you can’t get that flavor pizza anywhere but Mr Gatti. So the ability for somebody to take it home with it is crucial.
Yeah, it’s all about the cheese and the sauce, but really about the cheese. So tell us about what 2026 looks like for you as a franchise organization. Are you growing in any specific areas? Are you growing any certain parts of your business? What are some of your goals for 2026?
2025 was really a pivotal year for us and took us in directions that we couldn’t imagine. And so in 2026, we are really just think we’re going to follow down that same trajectory. Yeah. First and foremost, our primary focus is our Family Entertainment Center. And for those that may not have ever seen Mr Gatti’s, these are 12,000 plus square foot facilities. Wow. I’ve got them. I just opened one in Big Spring, Texas, that was just at 14,000 square feet. We’ve got another one opening down in Portland, Texas. It’s that same size and fascinating in the Austin market. I’ve got them double that size, 30,000 square foot facilities. And so that is truly what our focus is. And so I envision us continuing down that path. As I mentioned, the 2025 being a pitiful year for us, it was the first year of our Walmart initiative where we started building modified versions of our delivery and carryout stores inside of select Walmart super centers. And we saw 19 of those open in Q4 2024 and Q5 2025 or are all 2025. And we envision we’re going to continue growing those throughout 2026.
You know what I like about that, especially for Texas, I would assume all of those Walmart stores are in the Texas.
They are actually in Texas and Oklahoma.
Oh, okay.
And then we envision pushing those east. So my deal with Walmart gave me effectively control over 92 super center locations, located not only in Texas and Oklahoma, but Arkansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, some of the southeastern part of the US.
Yeah, it’s an interesting long-term branding play, too, because there are so many people, we all know there’s so many people who live in Texas now who didn’t grow up in Texas, right?
They’re from all parts of the country.
So maybe being in some of those Walmart stores gives some brand awareness to people who are not familiar with the brand before.
And we look at it, we think it’s a play to our Family Entertainment Center model, and the cross-promotional opportunities that would exist by having both of those in some proximity to one another, we think is powerful. I can advertise the Walmart opportunity on my, you know, the food that’s served in our Family Entertainment Centers, and I can make people aware with box toppers and things like that, that, you know, shopping at Walmart, that may not be aware that Family Entertainment Center is nearby, so we do envision it as a way to enter markets and fortress markets as well.
And are we really focused only on the entertainment centers, or are we also doing some smaller footprints for, for just delivery and carryout?
You know, the, the deal we struck with Walmart from a rent perspective was so attractive, it’s really hard to compete with that on the street. And so if I went into a traditional strip shopping center and, you know, built out of space, it is effectively doing the same thing that I can do in a Walmart at a fraction of the rent.
Yeah.
And so.
And plus there’s already thousands of people in that Walmart.
Strike that. Millions of people walk into a Walmart. I mean, per store, yeah, yeah. No, I don’t, I don’t envision us not doing the Delco stores on the street, if it made sense. But I do think we ought to, we would look at a Walmart first and, you know, our relationship with them has been so great. You know, if I needed to trade out a store and swap out for somewhere else, because I got interest in a market I didn’t anticipate, I doubt that would ever be a problem.
Yeah, it’s an interesting idea too, because there are Walmarts in literally every town in America.
4,500 of those things, so supercenters alone.
And just to be in some town where there’s, there’s the Mr. Gatties inside a Walmart, and then maybe down the road, there’s a full-size entertainment center.
Yeah, that’s the goal.
That’s a great long-term goal, love that. Scott, if someone would like to have a conversation with you about the opportunities with Mr. Gatties Pizza, where can they reach you? Website, LinkedIn, email, where do you want to connect?
Of course, I think reaching out to me on our website is probably the best, which is gattiesfranchise.com. Feel free to click on it. I am, of course, on LinkedIn. Feel free to connect there. Or shoot me an email at scott.mcintosh.gattiespizza.com.
Alright, very good. Enjoy the rest of the show here and have a great 2026.
Thanks so much, sir.
We’re live on day two of Franchise Expo Austin, the fastest growing city in America, Austin, Texas. Chatting right now with Marcus Fuller, he’s here representing one of my favorite brands of all time, Beef-A-Roo. Marcus, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you so much, I’m so glad to be here.
I was just glad to see Beef-A-Roo, because it might not be a household name in some parts of the country, but where I grew up, Beef-A-Roo was the place to go.
It is.
Yeah, it was fantastic. And I love seeing that Beef-A-Roo is now franchising and growing all across the country. Tell me a little bit more about the brand and about the brand story.
So Beef-A-Roo, as you know, it goes back 50 years. Beef-A-Roo was established in 1967, and it was a husband and wife team. They opened in three restaurants and it just grew from there. At Legion Capital, we took over Beef-A-Roo in 2020, but the original owners still owned three restaurants in Rockford. So we have now expanded from five restaurants to corporate-owned 26, and we have opened up the franchise opportunity roughly about six years ago.
So it’s one of those great brands that was around for 40-some years and then started franchising. I love when I hear that.
Yes, yes. So there’s some nostalgia behind it coming out of Rockford, Illinois.
Two great brands out of Rockford, Illinois, Beef-A-Roo and Cheap Trick.
Right?
That’s pretty much what I grew up on.
There you go.
So Marcus, tell me about the franchise opportunity and where you’re growing in 2026. Do you have big goals? Are you moving into certain parts of the country? What’s really on your calendar for the year?
Well, what’s great since we’ve opened up this product to franchisees is that we try to make it real easy for them to come in. We have a low cost startup, unlike a lot of companies where we’ll just come in and just train for three weeks. We’re there training you for 60 days. We require our franchisee and owners to actually work in the restaurant first.
So it’s really an owner operator.
It’s owner operated, yes. We want to make sure that they keep the same quality in Calgary business as we have out in our current standards that we have. So our goal is to, we’re moving slowly out of Rockford, Michigan and we’re working our way to the West.
Okay.
We have in Dallas, Dallas is corporate and that’s where I live. We love Dallas and we love Austin. We have two locations there that we really corporate, but we’re going to open up a total of nine. Then eventually, we’re coming to Austin, Texas. We’re here right now and I love the area.
Yeah.
I took a map, we went around and just, I’m excited about the growth opportunity.
Yeah, there’s so much opportunity here. As I mentioned earlier, every time I come to Austin, which is about once or twice a year, it seems like the town doubled in size.
Yes.
So we see this area blooming, just like the Dallas area, and we’re also moving into Phoenix. Next year, we’ll have three restaurant in Phoenix.
Right.
Those are three franchisees.
Another fast growing part of the country, that’s terrific.
Absolutely.
So are the units that you’re opening in some of these places, are they more on the drive-through and take outside of the world, or is there a sit down opportunity? What’s the footprint on that?
So our RT is that we believe that you come in, you have fast casual dining.
Yeah.
So here on the west coast, we will have dining rooms where you can come in and eat. And we also have drive-through opportunities too. Sure. So our mix up is usually between 40% dine-in and 60% drive-through.
I like that ratio though because there are so many concepts I speak with that are only focused on the delivery or the takeout or the drive-through. And I think sit-down dining, even at a fast casual level, is on a huge roll right now.
Yes. It’s coming back. It’s coming back. People like it and our restaurants are bright, airy, friendly, and we’re even pet friendly.
Pet friendly too. That’s good. Yeah. Love that. So, terrific. Marcus, if somebody would like to speak with you about the opportunity, where’s the best place to reach you and where do you want to connect with people?
Absolutely. You can reach out to me at beefaroo.com. And just there’s a link in there saying to be a franchise or request additional information. And that email comes directly to me and I’ll reach out to you.
All right. Very good. Well, good luck for the rest of the year, the rest of the show and in 2026.
Thank you so much. I appreciate you.
Thanks, Marcus. Back at Franchise Expo Austin, I’ve had the opportunity to chat with a lot of franchisors and other industry influencers and suppliers. But I wanted to chat now with someone who’s actually a franchisee. And his name is Bruce Granger.
Correct.
Welcome to the podcast, Bruce. Tell me about your brand and what you do.
So I’m a NaturaLawn of America franchise owner. My wife and I lived in Virginia from 1996 until 2006 and were customers of NaturaLawn the whole time we were there. Yeah. And we were ready to do something different. My wife wanted to stay with her career. So I said, we’ll get a job and we’ll figure out where we’re going. And I’ll figure out what I want to be when I grow up. So she got an offer in Houston, Texas. And I found out in the interim that NaturaLawn was a franchise and decided it might be something I could do.
So you liked it as a customer, so you thought this is something that could work as a business.
I wanted to do something, have a business, and this was an opportunity to start a business. And then I got to Houston and walked outside and went, it might have been a mistake.
It’s a little warm, right?
So how long have you been doing this now?
We started the, we opened the business in 2007. So we’re on the, next year will be the 19th year.
Wow, that’s a good second career that you’ve had there. So tell me about, you’re looking to sort of transition now, is that right?
Yeah, so I mean, unfortunately, like a lot of us, I’m getting older and I’ve got some health issues with my lungs. So it’s an opportunity for somebody to get something with a solid foundation and continue to grow it. But now that the growth is there, the opportunity is just exploding.
Yeah, so good opportunity if somebody out there is interested in taking over a business that’s already successful and you don’t have to start from the ground up. Sounds like a great opportunity. Bruce, if someone would like to chat with you or somebody from your team about this opportunity, where’s the best place that they can reach you?
Our office number is 281-392-2990.
All right.
And I’m usually in the office most of the time.
All right, very good. Thanks for sharing your story, Bruce, and good luck with the rest of the show today. Thank you.
Appreciate it.
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Hey, having a good day in joining the show, and seeing the Franchise family. It’s always fun to be out, and hanging out with my people.
Yeah, we were here exactly one year ago at this same show. It feels like it’s a little busier this year. I think there’s more opportunities happening here.
I would say so, and I don’t think we’re going to get anybody arrested like last year. The Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight on Netflix was a mess. We got some people in trouble, so hopefully we can avoid all those things.
Yeah, it was the great franchise riot of 2024. We’re still hearing stories about it here in Austin, Texas. So Ty, you are probably the guy who knows more about real estate in the franchise space than anybody else I know. Give us sort of your thermometer of where we’re at. People have been complaining about real estate for the past five years. Where are we at now? Are things getting into a better space for more business owners or do we still have some challenges?
I think it’s still a landlord market in those areas where the traffic, like the busy areas are. So if you look at A and A plus real estate, those rents are climbing. We’re seeing in the bigger cities, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, hundred plus dollar a square foot rents. The triple nets, the extra costs that you pay, taxes, insurance, common area maintenance, those are climbing. The inflationary times the last few years have really hit on those. We’re seeing, it’s not uncommon to see a $15, $20 triple net now, which is problematic. I think one of the issues that we’ve had is there was not a significant amount of building done in the retail community since 2008. There hasn’t been a re-engagement. If you notice, you don’t see new target centers.
Right.
You don’t see brand new buildings going up for Ross Dress for Less or for Walmart. So there’s not been a lot of new large shopping center construction.
So if there is an occupancy, there’s a lot of people competing for that.
What we generally see is the occupancy that comes available is maybe a business that was growing in the 70s and 80s, maybe the 90s, that is kind of run its course. Maybe it’s struggling. We see it, for example, they just announced a bunch of Starbucks closures. They just announced a bunch of Wendy’s closures. So what we generally see is a lot of replacement. And that can be hard in the franchise space just because when you’re a franchisee, you’re not always looking in an area that correlates with those closures. And so if you’ve got an area that you really want to be, maybe in Phoenix, you want to be in North Scottsdale, around Kierland, it’s very hard to find space because there’s just not a lot of new product being coming available. And you’ve got to be aware of those brands that are competing against you. So you don’t have to, you’ve got to get past exclusive issues. So that can be tough. And that’s really driving those rents up in those prime areas faster than the franchisees, the customers, the business owners are thinking.
Whenever I hear someone talk about replacements, I always think of all of those businesses we see that you can tell it used to be a pizza.
There you go, yes, exactly. Yeah, how many sushi places look like a Taco Bell?
Right, right, they all look like a Taco Bell in all of the payday loan places that have the iconic Pizza Hut roof.
There we go, yep.
But I guess those structures were built well because they’re still around 60 years later.
No, and you go into a massage place and they got a safe in the back. It’s like, okay, what are you using that thing for? It’s got a huge door because it costs $150,000 to remove a safe door. Who knew?
Yeah, it used to be a bank and now the young people are like, what’s a bank?
Yeah, that’s right. How do they fit that in their phone? I have no idea.
You mean you used to go to a place to get money? That’s unbelievable. So tell me about 2026 with, first of all, your business with FranReal. What are some of your goals and objectives for 2026? Any new things that you’re moving into?
So what we’re doing at FranReal is a unique model in that we are a franchise brand. And really our goal is to grow into the education space, helping multi-unit franchisees monetize their own real estate portfolios. So if you’re a multi-unit franchisee who’s opening five Perkins restaurants a year, those commissions, $30,000, $40,000, that today would be going to CBRE or Colliers or whoever your broker is on the ground, we can train you, educate you, arm you, and give you the tools to put those 30, 40, $50,000 commissions into your pocket and help to elevate and speed up your own growth. So that’s really what we’re going to be focused on at FranReal in 2026 is arming multi-unit franchisees and people inside the franchise industry to be able to monetize those transactions for themselves and improve and speed up the growth where they can use these commissions to help speed up that rollout that they’re doing.
So it’s not only helping them with real estate, but there’s actually an opportunity there for them to make some money.
That is exactly right. So we are putting them in the catbird seat where they’re controlling their own real estate process rather than a broker that they’re having to rely on, that may be giving them a portion of their time, but not really giving them the amount of time that they need.
Excellent. If this sounds like something that someone would like some more information on or maybe have a chat with you about that opportunity for them, where can they reach you?
Yeah. Available on LinkedIn, Ty Brewster. I’ve got a website, www.franreal.com. And then I’m at 12 to 15 shows, hanging out with Jack at night. You know, certainly always available to buy me a Dr. Pepper. I’m a big fan. There you go. And, you know, I don’t think it’s that hard to get a hold of me, but.
We know where to find you. You’re on LinkedIn almost as much as me, I think.
Well, I mean, the day after the Tyson fight last year, it might have been tough to get a hold of me. But other than that, very seldom do I get only one phone call a day.
All right. And if you only have one phone call, make that phone call to Ty and find out about Real Estate in 2026. All right, my friend, great seeing you. Thanks so much for sharing with us today and have a great rest of the show here in Austin.
All right. Hey, thanks. Good to see you, everybody.
Joining me now is Randolph Clarito from 1 Heart Caregiver Services. Randolph, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you very much, John, for having me.
So tell me about the brand.
1 Heart Caregiver Services is a national franchise brand. So we are a non-medical home care company that provides a person-centered and service-oriented approach to seniors, whether in their private homes or in assisted living facility or hospital or there as a seater and skilled nursing facility.
Got it. So how long have you had the brand and tell me a little bit of the back story?
We’ve been doing this for 20 years, since 2004. But when I entered 1 Heart, it was a great recession period, 2007 until 2009.
Oh, we remember.
So we know that it’s going to be a, has an exponential growth in the senior population. So that’s where we decided that we can expand reach to seniors. So that’s where I also created territories, new areas that we can serve. So we know that the seniors live longer because of medical advancement.
Right, live longer, and there are more of them now because I think the stat right now in America is about 10,000 people a day are turning 65.
Yes.
So that’s a huge opportunity for you and your franchisees.
But Jack, a 75-year-old would have two to three chronic medical condition. So it’s hard for them to be by themselves in the house. So they would be the caregivers so that that’s something that we can provide for many years. Right now, we have 41 franchises all across US from California, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas, Washington, Nevada.
So you’ve got a pretty big footprint. It’s spread out here and there. Is there a part of the country that you’re looking to grow into more in 2026?
Right now, you’re right. 2026, we’re looking at the second largest senior population, which is Florida. Also in Texas here, we’re in Texas right now. We have one in South Lake, Texas franchise. I was there, so I conducted some wellness lectures, you know, the NeuroBix brain exercises. So I believe that our healthcare industry is defective. It focuses on illness. 1 Heart focuses on wellness. Yeah. It has to be wellness.
Oh, I love that. So, and speaking of lecturing and giving out some information, you were speaking here at this event this week, right?
Yesterday, I had a seminar for one hour. So the title is, You Need to Have a Future Proof Franchise, which means it has to be a business that will thrive in any economy. And there are five pillars that I presented yesterday, which is it has to be an essential demand. It’s essential. It’s not a trend, it’s not a season, it’s a necessity. Second, your adaptability. There’s a changing market. Dementia, Alzheimer’s. So I created myself as a wellness advocate, One Heart Cognitive Wellness Method. So that’s being used by our franchise. Then you need the recurring revenue. The fourth is scalable system. So it’s a system within a system. And then the fifth one is you need to have that purpose. So you can retain clients. The purpose-driven mission.
And retain franchisees and maybe find new franchisees because it feels like, unlike when I started in this industry, more new franchisees are attracted to that purpose. And really having an alignment with the brand.
Yeah, I would suggest that it should not only be just the passion, but it’s the purpose. And also it has to be an essential business. Something that can thrive for the next 10 to 20 years, whether it’s recession, COVID pandemic, or any other economic downturn.
Right, because there will be something that comes up, right? There will be some big conflict or something that we’re involved in. So yeah, having that essential business is fantastic to hear. If someone would like to talk to you about an opportunity, where do you like to connect with people? Is that website, email, telephone?
Yeah, we have our website, oneheartfranchise.com, or our corporate office, or you can, they can call me directly, 805-338-8100. We also have Rhino 7. They can reach out to Dog, Joe, and James Butler, who has another podcast also. James Butler is our Franchise Development Manager, so he can be reached in his podcast and just reach out to Rhino 7.
All right, very good. Randolph, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. Have a great rest of the show, and good luck in 2026.
Thank you very much, Jack. You’ve been doing great. Thank you.
Thank you. Back at Franchise Expo Austin, chatting now with Josh Kerns. He’s with Conquer Padel Club. Josh, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks so much. Great to be here, Jack.
So tell me about Conquer Padel Club. I see this exhibit you have here at Franchise Expo Austin, and a lot of people hit a lot of balls back and forth. It looks like a lot of fun.
Yeah. So paddle is think pickleball, but on steroids. Paddle is the fastest growing sport in the world, except in the United States. Started in Mexico in the 60s, now very popular in Latin America, Spain, Europe, et cetera. Conquer Paddle is one of, we’re the only ones in the country who have actually developed the model to take the club, take it from one guy in Miami who’s trying to do it by himself, and actually bring all of the discipline, all of the rigor, the science, the background of the franchise model to help grow the sport of paddle and help entrepreneurs bring a paddle facility to their city.
Nice. So tell me about the paddle facility. Is it a freestanding building or is it done in conjunction with some other type of structure like inside some other community center or something like that, or is it freestanding?
So paddle, the courts are very specialized. They come out of Spain primarily. They require a certain amount of space. We have, our first club is in Phoenix, Tempe, Arizona. And that is just a paddle club, it’s about 20,000 square feet, along with the courts. It has various gathering areas for event spaces, things like that, cold plunge, infrared sauna. However, we are also doing projects. I’m doing one in Houston in partnership with a pickleball facility. They already have the pickleball courts, but they have a parking lot. And so we are adding, helping them add paddle courts to that. There are some, some site needs. You need about a 20 foot ceiling to start. 20, because there is a lot of lobbying, column spacing and all of that. So it can be an existing retail space. It can be for indoor. It can be a warehouse, for example, or it can be outdoor. And both of those models are there. Costs obviously are going to be much lower, Jack, if you’re doing it outside versus indoor. But if you live in the Chicago area as you do, or Seattle as I do, you want to be indoors.
Yeah, you definitely want to be indoors. But maybe there’s an opportunity with a lot of existing retail space, some big box stores and that kind of thing. Is that the type of place where someone could convert to a paddle?
If you can find the right one, again, ceiling height, column width, and pickleball, I work in the pickleball industry, have for years, everybody thinks Bed Bath & Beyond goes out of business, we’ll put pickleball in there. And it doesn’t always work.
Really?
So the same with paddle. However, our first franchise, we’re a mattress warehouse store, so the buildings do exist. The real estate in general, I think anybody who’s doing pickleball, paddle, a bouncy, an indoor trampoline, real estate is the biggest, I would say, challenge, requirement. The thing that’s going to be the key to your success, not only the building itself, but then negotiating the lease and things like that. Because as you know, Jack, there are a lot of realtors who still think it’s 2017, even though their building’s sitting empty, and they want to charge you for 2017.
They want to charge you like it’s 2017.
Exactly.
Is that real estate, site selection, all of that kind of thing, is that something that you as an organization help franchisees with some support?
100%. So when you come to us, we have very sophisticated networks of brokers, and all of the engineering and things like that, and we work through these networks that we have and the software that we have to help you quickly identify a site, so you’re not going to go out and kick tires on 200 places, and then we’ll help you actually negotiate the lease, because again, the landlord who wants to charge you $100,000 a month for 20,000 square feet. Forget that, Jack. We’re going to tell you, don’t do that to me.
That’s so good to hear that you have that sort of support, because without that, I don’t know how anybody gets to their opening date, right?
100%. And it’s the whole gamut, though. Obviously, it’s one thing many… You know, I could tell you, oh, you’re going to make a million dollars, you’re going to do this, this, this. But I could also tell you that you’re going to lose your butt if you don’t do it this way. And so I think it’s just so important to have that partner with experience. Our team, even though we’re new, we have our founding team. They come from Mexico so that they have this experience in the paddle industry specifically. But then we have longtime, decades long franchise experts who know how to support a franchisee from beginning to end.
That’s what is needed. And you said you’ve been in the pickleball space for quite a while yourself. Tell me about just this explosion of growth and you’re involved with an association in that area too, right?
Yes, so I am a founding partner, a chief marketing officer of the International Association of Pickleball and Paddle Facilities. We are essentially like the IFA, the International Franchise. So we’re here to support the growth of both of these sports. Now, pickleball needs a lot less help as you’ve seen. But there’s so many entrepreneurs coming to these spaces. Because if you have a place, if you’ve had a facility for three years in pickleball, you are OG because that’s so new too. And so what we do as an association and it’s, I’m going to do a little plug here, Jack, iappf.org and we’re really there to provide all this information and resources. We have a number of franchises, franchisors that are our partners and sponsors, Dill Dinkers, Pickle Range, Flying Pickle. And we as your advocate are there to sort of help give you all of the other criteria and that may be neutral third party council, to make a good even franchise choice. Should I franchise? Should I not? What makes a good franchisor which as you, as an expert in the franchise space, just know just because you have a franchise or it doesn’t mean they’re any good.
Yeah.
Yeah. There’s a few of those out there.
You know what?
I love what you’re doing with this because some people would see some of those other brands as competitors, but you see them as potential partners and you’re growing the industry, not just trying to grow one of the brands.
We have to. You know, there’s no need to help support the growth of the pizza industry. I think they’re OK, but if we want the pickleball or paddle industry to succeed, we collectively have, we believe, an obligation to drive the growth of the sport. And Will Richards, who is the founder and CEO of Dill Dinkers Pickleball Franchise, very successful, two dozen outlets, he says, you know what? I don’t have competitors. I have a community. The rising tide lifts all boats. And paddle being so new, if we’re going to grow a paddle industry, we are there as ambassadors as much. Our model is not going to work for you, Jack, maybe. But I can help you get the ports.
Yeah, and I think there’s a correlation there between what’s going on now in your part of the industry to all of franchising maybe 30, 40, 50 years ago. There was this feeling, so I hear, that no franchisor wanted other franchisors to fail, because it made us all like that. Exactly. So, helping every franchisor out there succeed was something that I think this community was sort of all in on, because we wanted, like you said, we wanted to see the rising tide lift all ships, so.
And you know what’s interesting to me, Jack, just here at the show, you know, there is so much compliment, just because you may have a pizza place, well, guess what? I may, it may make more sense for me to have, and I know I keep going to pizza, because I’m hungry.
Yeah, that’s what happens when we do these interviews right before noon.
It’s complimentary though, right? And if you succeed, I succeed. And just the notion of franchise in general, when I started working with these guys, all I thought was, well, that’s lame. It’s, you know, why would I give somebody else the money? And when we, as an ecosystem, support each other in the notion, the brand, if you will, of what is a franchise, an understanding, we’re all entrepreneurs, we are all, I think there’s a community spirit to franchise, even at this show and what you’re doing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Again, we’re all helping each other out and we’re all trying to find the answers together.
Well, and how about just, you know, we are pack animals, we are tribal, and yet we are so disconnected in business and life these days that I think this ecosystem, again, I’ll use that term of franchising, whether it is Pickleball, Padel, dog grooming, travel, we should be coming back together. And I think this industry brings people together in a way that very few things do.
Yeah. And I think we can also see a lot of multi-unit, multi-brand owners might be involved in something food related, something pet related. And now they want to diversify themselves into something sports related or activity related. So yeah, it definitely helps move everybody forward. Tell me a little bit about your plans for 2026. Obviously, the industry is exploding. How do you see that growth happening? Are you growing into certain parts of the country? Where do you really see your brand going in 2026?
So we have two franchisees who have bought multiple territories, one in the Northeast, looking to grow into Connecticut, New Jersey, Philadelphia, et cetera. Another one in Florida, who’s targeting Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville. We have a number in the pipeline. Our vision is that there will be upwards of 30 franchise outlets around the country, and we are not territory agnostic. We hope that the sport will continue to grow at the growth rate we’re seeing. They project upwards of a million players over the next couple of years in paddle. And so if you were doing a company owned in Lehigh, Utah, Salt Lake City, but I’ve been around the country, Houston, LA, San Diego, Seattle, where I’m based, I think what you’re going to see with Conquer is that we are working to spread the game and spread the brand as the only franchise are doing this. So 2026, hopefully at the end of next year, there will be Conquer Padel Clubs, either indoor or outdoor, different calibers, if you will, spread out all over the country. And more important that you will have not only heard of paddle, but you will have played paddle. And so hopefully by the time I visit with you again next year, we will have said, you know what, Jack, we said we want 30 clubs and we have 30 clubs.
All right, well we will see you next year, next fall with an MFV event, maybe in Dallas, maybe in Phoenix, maybe in one of the other great cities that we’re going to be in next year.
Well, they all have lunch and it’s lunchtime.
Yeah, there you go. Perfect. If someone would like to have a conversation with you and your team about the opportunity, where’s the best place for them to connect with you?
So look at the website first, conquerpadel.com. It’s conquerpadel.com. If you want to reach out to me, I’m on the website, but it’s also just joshatconquerpadel.com.
All right.
Or you’ll find me at the local paddle or pickleball court.
All right.
We’ll look for you there too. Josh, thanks so much for sharing today. Have a great rest of the show here in Austin and a great 2026.
Thanks buddy. I’m coming to Chicago to see you.
All right.
Chatting now with Chris Wellbaum. He’s the Head of Sales at Level Up Leak Detection. Chris, welcome to the podcast.
Thanks for having us.
I think this is probably the newest concept we’ve spoken to all day today. Tell us how long you’ve been in business and how long you’ve been franchising.
Yes. We’re actually powered by Leaktronics, which has been in business for over 15 years, and we just started the Level Up Leak Detection Franchise only two months ago.
Wow. So you’re brand new and you already have some franchisees or some people interested, right?
Absolutely. We just signed our third franchisee last week, and we have a few more in the pipeline looking for more.
Wow. Signed three already in a couple of months. You’re going to make a few people out there very jealous who’ve been at this for a lot longer. So tell us about the brand. What do you guys do?
Yes. So Acoustic Leak Detection. We are in the pool industry. That’s what we specialize in. Our owner Darren Merlobe has been in the pool industry for over 30 years. And just from our name alone, we have a lot of interests. So basically what we do is we go out and we locate a leak in under an hour with our hydrophone technology. And our goal is to continue this and continue the growth across the country.
Got it. So anybody with a pool is somebody who could be a customer because there’s probably a lot of leaks out there that we don’t know.
Correct. So if you have a pool, you probably have a leak and that’s how it goes. You know, a little stat for you is, you know, as far as new pools go, one in 12 new pools already have a leak. So expect a leak if you own a pool and that’s where Level Up comes in.
Excellent. So tell me about your plans for the coming year. Are you growing in certain parts of the country? Are you growing in other directions? And what does that opportunity look like?
Yeah. Well, we are growing across the country. We do have a few areas where it’s going to take us 12 months to continue with our FDD, but for the most part, we are looking all over the country. We’ve got some great interests in the Midwest. So if you’re anywhere from coast to coast, give us a call. But yeah, right now in Texas, it’s a great opportunity for us because it’s a wide open market and there is just a lot of opportunity out here.
So that’s where we’re going to focus. And a lot of pools in Texas these days. So there’s a lot of business to be had out there. Who’s a good franchisee? Have you sort of figured out a good persona or type of business person who would make a really successful franchisee for you guys?
Yes, a problem solver. If you are good at thinking on your toes and you like problem solving, then that’s probably this business for you.
Love that, terrific. If somebody would like to have a conversation with you about the opportunity, where can we send them?
levelupleakdetectionfranchise.com or you could actually call us direct at 818-853-5725.
Alright, very good. Well, Chris, thanks for stopping by the Podcast Zone today. Have a great rest of the show here at Franchise Expo Austin and a great 2026.
Thanks for having us.
Chatting now with John Doty. He’s the Director of Franchise Sales USA for Fresh Slice Pizza. John, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you. Great to be here.
So, lots of pizza concepts out there that are getting our attention these days. Tell us about Fresh Slice.
Yeah, so Fresh Slice, we started 25 years ago in Canada. So, we’re a Canadian concept. We started in Vancouver, British Columbia. And we grew to about, I think we’re sitting around 215 locations in Canada right now.
Wow.
A lot more on the way. And then about a year ago, you know, it made sense for us to come down into the United States. And we started off with Texas. And we’ve got 11 stores committed so far in various stages of construction, design, leasing. And we’re hoping to get our first stores opened up probably early next year.
Wow. That’s terrific. So, tell us about the brand itself. What makes you guys different, unique and special in the pizza business?
Yeah, for sure. So, we sell pizza by the slice, harder to find these days.
Yeah.
And we combine that with a super popular model of allowing guests to build their own unlimited topping pizza for one price. And something that differentiates us from every brand that I’m aware of in North America is we have a 000 model, which means we don’t charge royalties, we don’t charge ad fees, and we don’t mark up our ingredients. And then we combine that with centralized dough manufacturing. So that gives our franchisees a perfect consistent dough. And they don’t have to invest in the labor to make that dough in the restaurant. And they don’t have to worry about all the other problems that come along with making dough in house.
And you get to totally control the brand standard then too, right?
That’s correct. That’s correct. That was one of the reasons that we went this route was our founder, Ray Russell, is super passionate about the dough. And he would go into his various locations and say it was different here. It was a little different there. And then it struck him. He was like, hey, you know what, let’s get rid of franchise fee. I’m sorry, let’s get rid of royalties, let’s get rid of ad fees and let’s essentially make the dough ourselves.
Right. And you’re in the dough business.
I love that idea. That’s right. We make our dough on dough. You make your dough on the dough. Yeah, lots of pizza puns.
That’s great. So tell us about your further movement into the US and maybe some other expansion plans in 2026. It’s phenomenal that you’re doing so well in Canada and then decided that Texas was your first entry into the US. I think that’s really smart. Where to next?
Yeah, so Texas makes sense. As you know, it’s a great state. It’s growing. It’s booming. It’s very business friendly. We came down here thinking, okay, well, let’s just expand across to Texas and then we’ve got some interest in Georgia. So we signed a four-store deal in Atlanta, Georgia.
Oh, great.
And we were randomly contacted by somebody in Idaho. So we’re going to Idaho. That surprises people. We’ve got a four-store deal coming there. And we’re coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Waco. I’d say 2026 looks for us expanding into those markets, really expanding across Texas, getting a good footprint here. We recently just got registered in California as well, mostly from Organic Demand. And it made sense to us, hey, we better get things set up there because if we’ve got this kind of demand there, they’re not an easy state to get registered in.
Yeah, it sure ain’t Texas.
Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. It’s in the West, but it’s not the Wild West. So we’re ready to go now in California, very happy to get that news back from there. So we’re talking to a few parties there in Southern California and Northern California. So 2026 really looks like expanding into the markets that we’re currently in, and then maybe into some new markets here.
That sounds great to me. Gatti, anything else about the brand or your plans for 2026 you wanted to share today?
Well, in terms of our brand, I think that, you know, we’re looking for hands-on leaders. We like business-minded operators, but we don’t require people to have experience running their own business or have any pizza experience as well.
That’s great to hear. I hear that too often from food franchises where they want someone with all of this restaurant experience. And my first thought is, don’t you want someone who is a go-getter who can run a business rather than someone who has spent their life in pizza?
That’s exactly right. And what we found as well is some of our top operators, some of our people that have gone multi-unit, they didn’t have a restaurant background. In fact, some of them were a little bit scared of F&B, food and beverage and hospitality. They thought they associated with long hours and, like you said, kind of a requirement to have this deep knowledge of and an experience with it. And the people that come in, they go, wow, this model is easy. This is scalable. This is profitable. And they grow with us. And so we’ve really refined that profile now to know who it is we’re looking for. And it’s not necessarily somebody that’s been in the pizza business.
Yeah. And if the franchisor has the processes in place properly, there’s no need to have a 30 year experience in the pizza business already.
That’s right. When you’re getting a franchise, isn’t that kind of what you want?
That’s the whole idea.
Yeah. You want something where it’s like, hey, here, take this. We’ve got it ready to go. Here’s the Lego set. Here’s the instructions. Here’s how you build it. This is what it’s going to look like.
Are these more owner operator models or are there a lot of multi-unit, multi-brand people involved? What are you really looking for?
Our founder was very big on owner operator to start. And that’s how we’ve done most of our growth is through owner operators that do go multi-unit. As we’ve expanded and we’ve gotten well known in the industry, we’ve relaxed that a bit. We now allow people to come in and say, hey, look, I’ve got a lot of capital to deploy. I’ve got some other brands, but I love your concept. Let’s do this. And so, you know, it’s more across the board now in terms of that.
Good. Excellent. If someone would like to have a conversation with you about the opportunity, where can we send them?
Start off probably with our site, investinfresh.com.
Oh, I like that site name, investinfresh.com. Very cool.
InvestInFresh, that’s right.
Excellent. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us here in the Podcast Zone. Have a great rest of the show here in Austin and a great 2026.
Thank you. I really appreciate being invited on.
Chatting now with Jack Stewart from SMB, one of my favorite organizations, Jack, welcome to the Podcast.
Thanks so much for having me.
So tell me what you’re doing with SMB now. We’re here at the Franchise Expo Austin. What types of things are you speaking to all of these cool brands about?
Absolutely. So I think that we’re first and foremost kind of getting that confusion out of the way, right? A lot of people are coming up to us and say, what franchise are you selling?
Same here in the podcast zone. People keep coming up saying, oh, is this a podcast franchise?
You’re selling a podcast.
Which maybe it should be. I don’t know. Exactly.
If you’re having a lot of curiosity about that, maybe there’s a demand we don’t know about, right?
They’re like, are you selling microphones? Well, maybe. So yeah, so sort of clarifying what you do with the franchisees.
Of course. So it’s really that follow up question will be, you know, do you own a business already or are you still looking? And a lot of people here, just the nature of the expo, are still prospecting and looking to get into different franchises. However, if they do own a business and it’s on the local level, we’ll really bring them through the process of what we do. And everyone’s at a different stage, right? There’s the people who are pretty far out in terms of knowing the details about franchising, and you get a feel for that pretty fast. Because the first part of the process is the FDD, right? And if they haven’t heard of the FDD, then it’s pretty clear they have a bit more research.
Then we’ve got to take a little step back, right?
Right.
It’s pretty clear what their timeline is there. But if they know what an FDD is, then you can kind of bring them through that and explain that we have a team of specialized attorneys that we outsource to, who really tighten everything up, make sure it coincides with the operations manual, and kind of drive home the point of both of those, is to make it legally bulletproof, and you do want to avoid lawsuits in the future, specifically with the FDD.
Yeah.
So yeah, from there, it’s territory mapping. We sit down and discuss their values, and how that’s going to reflect in the brand, and then we flesh out the marketing, so everything from website design to marketing materials. So yeah, we’ve really just been bringing them through the process here. As far as my role in SMB right now, I’m definitely sales-facing, so I am shadowing a lot of pitch calls. You know, this has been great exposure for me to kind of practice that speech of what we do from start to finish and why we’re a better alternative than one of our competitors. So there’s that, and I know there’s a good amount of work in terms of CRM migration as well. They call it WIMD that I have experience with that in first-line, and I know they’re looking to do the same. So we’re going to wait till after the summit, December 4th, to push all of that out. That and then continuing to improve the ongoing sales processes, pretty much my main responsibilities.
Got it. Anything you’re really looking to accomplish in 2026 with SMB or just in franchising in general, any big goals or sort of direction you’re taking in the coming year?
Yeah, that’s a great question, Jack, and you know what, I’ve only been here now for about a month, so I’m actually kind of been asking myself-
So finding your way, I think, is your first goal, yeah.
I’ve been asking myself these questions almost as you are, but right now, I think I would be really happy with improving or making a procedure for the closing process and being able to see tangible results off of that, as well as closing some accounts myself and really bringing them through the finish line. So I would say right now, those are my goals, although it is open to change.
There you go. That’s a good goal too, is being open to change because that’s the one thing we can depend on happening in 2026 as well.
That’s right.
All right, very good. If people have questions and they want to reach out to you and maybe talk about working with SMB, where should we send them? Absolutely.
Yeah, you could email me. It’s just my first name. So jack at smbfranchising.com. That will definitely be the best place to reach me.
All right. Very good, Jack. Have a great rest of the show here and we will see you soon in Pennsylvania.
Thank you so much, Jack. I appreciate you for having me.
Back at Franchise Expo Austin, chatting now with Rodney Frank with Yonutz. Rodney, first of all, I got to tell you, I love the name Yonutz. It’s just fun, right?
It’s catchy, isn’t it? It’s like yo, nuts.
Yo. Yeah, that describes a lot of people.
I go nuts for Yonutz. It’s a matter of fact.
So tell us about Yonutz. I assume it’s a sweet franchise, yes?
It is very sweet. The whole idea is warm donuts with ice cream in the middle.
You had me at warm donuts. I didn’t know there was ice cream involved.
It’s the gateway drug. It brings you in and it keeps you there. Believe it or not, it’s actually an entry point too because a simply smashed donut is only five bucks. So for a family of four can come in and for 20 bucks, they can get a dessert. There’s also of course the other donuts that are more advanced as far as the toppings that they put on them. Those have won dessert wars three times. One had Nutella on it and there’s so many different combinations of toppings that you can put on it. It’s just incredible.
And I just thought this was a typical donut shop, but this is something way beyond.
No, it’s totally different because there’s actually no friars in the restaurant.
Well, tell me about that. How do you make the donuts?
Yeah, they come pre-made and you put them through a puffer that puts moisture in to them and kind of brings them to life in a sense. And then, when you make a simple snacks, for example, you cut the donut in half and you put a big scoop of ice cream there. And then, you put the other half and you put it into the equivalent of a waffle type of iron. It’s shaped like the sandwich would be. And you put it down for about 15 seconds, flip it over for another 15 seconds and take it out. And then, it’s rolled in cinnamon sugar. And it’s the best thing. So that’s my favorite.
I’m getting hungry listening to this right now.
It’s my favorite item. On the ice, vanilla ice cream and that is pretty much perfect.
So I don’t know much about the doughnut business, but it sounds to me like the process you just described doesn’t mean you have to have a massive kitchen set up for a Yonutz franchise. Is that correct?
That is totally correct. In fact, because of the fact there’s no oil fryer, you can have younger people. It depends on the state, of course. You can have younger people working in the back or in the store. Whereas if you have an oil fryer, you can’t have anybody who’s 16 or 17 working there.
You’ve got to have a much bigger kitchen space too.
Way bigger, way more cost, way more. You got to get up at 3 in the morning, cook the doughnuts. That’s fun.
Yeah, we don’t want to do that. Yeah. So tell me about the brand itself. How long has it been around and where are you primarily located and all that stuff?
Sure. So the brand was started by a gentleman named Tony Bahu in Florida. Believe it or not, he had one location in Kevin Harrington, one of the original sharks from Shark Tank.
Oh yeah.
Actually came into his restaurant and goes, dude, we got to like franchise this. This is an incredible concept. So he’s actually part of our marketing. He’s helped out a great deal with.
When the sharks come to you and you don’t even have to go into the tank, that’s something.
Yes, that’s exactly. That’s a good way to think of it. That’s exactly right. And so now we’re in, I think it’s 11 states with 15 or 16 locations.
And you’re here in Texas yourself, right?
Yes, we’re located in Texas. Our territory is from Austin to Corpus Christi, including San Antonio. We have one sold here in Austin. They’re looking for their location. There was one operating up in Dallas right now, and there’s another one in Texas. Got it.
So I know you’re focused in your territory in the middle of Texas, but what do you see happening in 2026 for the entire brand? Is it moving in a certain direction geographically? Like what does the growth really look like?
So believe it or not, this brand does well in any type of area, even the cold states. Really? Yeah, because it’s warm donuts with ice cream in them. I think that separates it from just an ice cream shop, which might be hard in January. In North and South Dakota, for example.
Oh yeah. Well, I’m from Chicago and all of the traditional ice cream franchises shut down sometime before Christmas and then reopen in the spring. But that’s not the case with something like Yonutz.
No, because you can just get donuts too. You don’t have to get the ice cream in the middle. You can get the donuts, just the donut alone. So yeah, I don’t think that there’s an area that it won’t do well in. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because we also added breakfast items too. Then there’s also those mechanical claws that can grab teddy bears and things like that. We’re testing that in some markets where we have a section that almost looks like an Asian arcade. I think that’s going to be big.
So, it’s a little bit more of an experience for the kids.
But on a smaller scale, they can go out for 20 bucks and the family four gets the donuts with ice cream in them. But then they can also spend some money on the claws. My daughter, when she was young, she was the master at those things. She’d cost me 20 bucks and she’d always get huge teddy bears.
It’s been four hours on it.
That’s fantastic. The teddy bears are going to be branded too, eventually.
Yeah.
Oh, there you go. Yeah. So it’s going to be one of those things where it’s going to be a very good experience. We’re also, it’s really interesting because Tony is such a good CEO that he’s really focused on the franchisees winning, meaning making profits. So the Simply Smashed has only been around for two years, and that’s the $5 entry point. Because before that, they were the higher priced items. And we needed an entry level product to kind of the gateway drive to get them into the store. They try it and then they’re hooked. And it’s good stuff. It’s really good.
A franchise CEO who’s focusing on the franchisee’s ability to make money. I’m all about that concept. That sounds like a winner to me. If anyone would like to talk to you about the opportunity, whether it’s here in Texas or maybe somewhere else, where should we send them? Website, LinkedIn, where do you like to have people connect?
I think if they just wanted to give me a call or text me on my cell phone, 303-572-0073, that would be great. I’d love to talk to them about the Yonutz opportunity here in Texas or nationwide, because we have friends in other places, Colorado and Atlanta, that they have the areas there too and they have great opportunities all over the country. It’s a great ground floor opportunity with this momentum that we have built. I think it’s going to be huge. I really do.
Very unique. So love the concept, love the branding on it as well. And Rodney, thanks so much for joining us here in the Podcast Zone to talk a little Yonutz.
Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Nice to meet you.
Back at Franchise Expo Austin, about ready to wrap up the week here in beautiful Austin, Texas. Martin, what do you think of the show so far?
Oh, it was amazing. Two days. We had so much fun, networking, a lot of work done, a lot of connections made. So we’re super happy with the results of the show.
Yeah. And I think I didn’t see too many franchisers standing around with nothing to do. They had a lot of people to talk to.
Yeah. We like to keep them every hour of the day.
Yeah. Love to see that.
So congratulations on another fantastic show. I’ve been chatting here in the Podcast Zone with a lot of franchisers about what their 2026 plans and goals and objectives are. So I wanted to ask you about the upcoming schedule for the MFV shows. I know we’ve got some of our old favorites are coming back, and we’ve got a couple of new things. So we’re kicking it off in January back in Florida, right?
Correct. Yes. We’re super excited about the schedule for next year. We, of course, as you said, kept like the winning shows and the winning markets. As Florida, we started the year in January 16th and 17th at Fort Lauderdale Convention Center and then going to my personal favorite show, IFE, the biggest of our shows. Who doesn’t love New York, especially end of May. It’s an amazing time. It’s a big market.
A lot of franchisers, both domestic and international, are coming to to that expo and then in the second half of the year you’ve got some new spots that we’re going to hit and maybe one or two spots that we’re going to hit again starting in September in another one of our favorite cities, Dallas.
Yeah, exactly. We wanted to, you know, change things up a little bit with with new markets. It was definitely markets that came out as favorites from our surveying our clients, our franchisers. We asked them what are those like area of developments that are hot for them and that they’re looking to develop by participating at Expos. And as you said, we’re starting in September, 18th and 19th in Dallas, then a brand new market for us that I’m personally super excited about, Cincinnati. So we’re looking forward to that show definitely next year. And then we’re back in the Phoenix area, this time in Glendale with Franchise Expo West.
Yeah, you’ve had some good shows in the past in Phoenix. And Phoenix, sort of like Austin and basically anywhere in Texas, these are just the fastest growing cities in the world.
100 percent.
So I think lots of opportunities there for franchisers to connect with their future franchisees in some of these cities. And kudos on Cincinnati too. That was sort of the surprise on the list. But when was the last time anyone did a big franchise event in Cincinnati, in Ohio, let alone Cincinnati? I think having some new perspectives and maybe hitting some people who typically wouldn’t go to Dallas or Phoenix or Austin or something like that.
Yeah, it’s definitely an interesting market. And as soon as we made an announcement, even though it might have came out as a surprise to some people, but we did have a lot of people reach out specifically about that market. So I think it’s going to be a good show.
Yeah, it’s a good franchising city too. There are two or three really strong franchisers who’ve been in the business for a couple of decades that are based in Cincinnati. So I think we have those sort of hot spots where brands really grow. And I think that’s one of the places. So I’m looking forward to seeing some more things. Cool.
Awesome. Thanks, Jack, for everything and for your support as well.
Thanks for having us again here in the Podcast Zone. Love doing it. Can’t wait to see you again in 2026. And until then, enjoy the rest of this year.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
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.