Live at IFA 2026 with Jack Monson

Are your Frandev marketing, advertising, content marketing, and PR teams really working together? Learn how Thunderly’s amplified integrated marketing can drive franchise development growth at thunderlymarketing.com. All right, here come the rock stars. Well, well, well, look who’s here in the podcast storytellers’ corner, whatever we’re calling it here at Ifa 2026. It’s the Franchise Rock Stars. Today we have, for the first time ever, live and in person, I have Allie, Derrick, Scott, Kristen, and Danielle all together in the podcast with us. What’s going on, everybody?

We’re excited to be here.

Excited to be here.

No one knows what to say. It’s amazing. They’re just staring at each other like…

Because we’re so stunned now that we are together in person. We’re like speechless for the first time ever.

The whole band is here live.

I’m not sure KP and speechless has ever really been a thing.

Touche. Touche.

So, what are your thoughts so far on IFA 2026? Things you like, maybe things you don’t like as much as other years? Have you seen anything cool? Let’s go around the room. Anybody got one they want to start with?

I mean, the thing that I really respect and enjoy about this particular conference is the theme of Evolve. I think that’s been clear through all the presentations that we’ve seen as a theme. There have been other conferences where, for me, I think it’s been maybe a bit of a stretch. Maybe sometimes it felt like we’re in Salad. But Evolve really seems to be a very clear focus throughout. And I feel like that through line is relevant today.

I also love how wide the aisles are. I know that’s such a simple thing. But for the first time ever, I don’t feel jammed in my booth. And the center, if you’re not here, they called it City Center of Main Street, which is really Ifa’s booth. And it’s this huge like networking area and beer garden and bookstore. And there’s just a lot. It feels like there’s a lot more to do than in previous years. It’s not just like you’re in sessions or you’re at the booth. It’s like there’s always somewhere to meet and there’s games on the tables and there’s things to do. And it’s just it’s been really easy and seamless, I think, to meet a new person and and have a connection and then sit down and talk. And so I think that’s been special to all of us at Benetrends. And so I’m really enjoying it.

I think they did a great job. It’s clear like they they really did think about the little things. Like I was playing Hungry Hungry Hippos yesterday at the table. And I’m like, they put out these retro games and they they really tried to create a community. And it doesn’t, to your point, feel like it’s just a tagline. It does feel very integrated throughout the whole conference. So so far, so good.

For me, I liked being able to choose what swag to get rather than just being handed a bag. And honestly, I didn’t realize how much stuff I don’t need, but I did take about 10 years worth of lip balm. So for me, that was a lot of fun.

There’s a robot dog, there was Tetris, I did a claw game.

Is there real dogs?

There’s real dogs, too. But there’s a robot dog.

I want the real.

The real ones are good. There’s a little itty bitty one that you can put in your pocket, so don’t run off with it. But that’s it.

I don’t know. So far, I like everything that you guys mentioned. I like the little podcast booth here. This is pretty cool. I could get used to this. But I’m going to go back to Derrick’s point about Evolve. I think they got it right this year with these themes, because there’s always a theme to every conference. Let’s move forward or move up or whatever. I think franchising is Evolve. I think we’re seeing that in real time this year. We used to talk about, what’s franchising going to look like in 10 years? Now, I think now we need to worry about what the hell is it going to look like in October? And I think the days of franchising being all about those individual owner-operators and mom and pop buying a pizza shop, like I think we’re evolving past that. Those days may unfortunately be gone. Now we’re talking about big deals and private equity and platform brands and companies acquiring other companies and all of the whispers that we hear in these hallways. I think that’s really what I’m paying attention to this year, is not franchising from the friends I’ve made over the years, but franchising is a massive business force in this global economy. So I don’t know. I’m also excited about the number of international brands and people from places outside of the United States that I’m seeing here. I think that’s probably a record this year of people from overseas who maybe they took a couple years off of that travel and now it feels like they’re back.

You know, I heard there’s an awesome event tonight that somebody really cool is emceeing.

Oh yeah.

Well, he couldn’t make it so they got me. But yeah, I’m I’m looking forward to the Global Franchise Awards and everybody gets to see my brand new tuxedo. Guess what? I was going to get a white tux but you know, two things like that’s just a bad look and also people would kind of freak out.

I remember one time you were wearing a non-black shirt. I think it was at FLDC this year, yeah?

Yeah.

And you had to go back and change.

I had to go back and change because everybody made me feel weird.

Yeah.

So.

You were off brand.

I was off brand.

Well, for people who are listening, they should know that we can even see right now this outfit. You’re even wearing a black undershirt. I didn’t know they made black undershirts, Jack.

I have to have them special made and sent in. Yeah.

Yeah.

So.

Orders them in mass.

Yeah, it’s quite an ordeal. But you know, I got to tell you, I’m the easiest person to shop for.

Right.

You never have to guess. Anything else happening this week that maybe you’re looking forward to after, of course, the big award ceremony tonight. Anything else or maybe any people you want to give a shout out to? Ali, I know the founder of Benetrends received an absolutely phenomenal award this year. I wanted to mention that. That Len Fischer is the Entrepreneur of the Year from IFA. And that was totally well-earned. That was fantastic.

Yeah, it was really special to see him and his wife here and his family come out to support him. We’ve all been kind of on a high about it. It’s amazing how many people actually came to our booth and said, Oh my gosh, you guys are the ones with the Entrepreneur of the Year founder. And so it’s been a really big high for all of us.

Yeah, I was thinking about it. He signed a book for me yesterday and I was thinking about how many people in this country are wealthy or at least have done well because of the program that Len’s starting. Think about that.

And don’t even know who he is because he’s the man behind it all.

So yeah, congratulations to Mr. Fischer. Anybody else have, anybody you want to give a shout out to or is something else happening this week?

I do. Okay, so right after this, one of my franchisees is doing a pitch, a business pitch as part of the Ascension program, if you’ve heard of this. And so she’s going to be talking about how she, well, she’s a physician, how she is now a physician and a Multi-Unit owner with MassageLux. And I just can’t wait to go and listen to her. And I’m so proud of her. And she’s here, her name’s Shania. So shout out to you, Shania.

Awesome.

Very good. Anybody else have anything you want to mention before we go?

Well, I mean, when I think of again, I mentioned the Evolve theme and it really got me thinking about what evolution is, is identity over time. There’s this kind of obscure thought experiment. It’s ancient Greek thought experiment. Bear with me. But it’s called the Ship of Theseus. And it goes like this. If over the years, every board, nail and sail is replaced on the Ship of Theseus, is it still the Ship of Theseus? And I think that’s what franchising is about. It’s about consistent identity over time. Operators will come and go. Presidents will come and go. The product offering may expand or change. But the brands that figure out how to evolve over time, how to maintain their identity over time, those are the ones that have real longevity and endurance. You can’t control how the market changes. You can’t avoid a global pandemic or political volatility or AI. You know, the sea is infinite and often cruel. But what you can control is how you manage your ship over time.

I am so excited to run that through ChatGPT and have it explain what you just said, Derrick. It sounded beautiful.

I want you to like read me bedtime stories.

Like nobody can see this, but you’re so dapper. You’ve got your velvet jacket. Like it’s all so nice.

I actually had to pull out my phone to take a video, what that just was, because you really can’t explain it to our listeners. When this podcast goes live, look out for Ali’s LinkedIn, because it will be published.

Derrick, thank you once again for being the closer. And everyone, thank you for joining me here in the podcast zone at Ifa 2026. I appreciate all of you and have a great rest of the week.

Love it.

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What’s going on, man?

Hey, Jack. Thanks for having me.

Thanks for being here. Been a pretty big week for you. You look pretty busy over there in the exhibit hall with your new book signing. Tell us about the book, first of all.

Yeah, it’s called The Franchise People Playbook, and it’s really just designed to get franchisees, a system to follow to be able to build winning teams.

Nice. You’ve been doing this in franchising for a number of years. What was your first IFA show that you came to?

My first IFA show was in 2013, and I wasn’t involved in franchising at all. I had a guy that I was talking to who’s a VP of operations, and he said, Hey, are you going to be at IFA? I was like, Yeah, I’ll be there. So, I got on the plane. I didn’t even buy the full membership pass because it was a little earlier in our startup days, but I bought the exhibit hall pass, and met a ton of people, and I knew that franchising was where we wanted to be.

Yeah. What was the first year you guys exhibited here? Do you remember?

I think it was probably the next year. Yeah, 2014, 2015. Yeah, it was right after. We really got things rolling pretty quickly. There was a big need that we were able to fill.

Tell me what CareerPlug does and how it applies to all of these franchise people that we’re sitting in front of here today.

When franchisees purchase a franchise, they get this playbook, right? It’s like, this is what you need to do to run the business. But the chapter in the playbook for people, which you could argue is the most important chapter in the whole thing, is somewhat limited, right? We can’t tell you exactly what to do here, but that’s what CareerPlug really tries to do is bridge that gap. We can provide those resources. We can take the recommendations that a franchisor has, their best practices, put it into our software so that franchisees right out of the box can have a system they can use to hire and retain the right people.

It sounds like you’re actually creating the process, the people process for a franchise brand, that maybe, you know, they’ve got the process down when it comes to their menu or their food or their marketing or their operations or something, but they probably haven’t figured that out with people.

That’s exactly right. And in the book, I talk about that, where there’s this idea of the fifth P. So if you think about the four P’s of marketing, product, price, place and promotion, right? That’s to me kind of like what you get when you buy a franchise. But the fifth P, people, is really the most important one. And I think it’s the biggest determinant of success for a franchisee.

Yeah, so often we hear people finally getting it right, where they’re talking about, you got to have the right butts in the right seats, right?

That’s it. And if you ask around and say, OK, what’s, if you look at your top performing locations in a brand and your bottom performing locations, what’s the biggest difference? I’ve asked that question consistently, and I’ve gotten the same answer every time. It’s their team. It’s the people.

Very good. What do you see happening the rest of 2026, and maybe even into next year, when it comes to your end of franchising? Lots of changes, and we’re looking at the American Franchise Act and everything. Where is this all going to go, do you think?

I think the American Franchise Act is going to be huge. And it’s going to really allow franchisors to give franchisees the support they need when it comes to helping them build a winning team. It’s like you said earlier, when it comes to delivering their product or service, franchise support teams, ops teams have that totally dialed. It’s not as established when it comes to supporting them with their people. And it’s because there’s been a lot of uncertainties. Join employer, whatever else, and people don’t know what it is. And a lot of people will say, we’re not doing anything. Other people will say, no, we are doing something. We don’t know exactly where this is, but there’s a cost of staying on the sidelines. And we’re not going to do that either. But once it passes, I think there’ll be a clear line of saying, this is okay, this is not okay. And the way that the Act is written, the bill is written, it’s very clear about what that is. And that’s going to allow, it’s going to remove the uncertainty and allow people to say, all right, well, if this is what we can work with, here’s what we’ll focus on supporting.

If you see this passing, do you see a big boom in hiring in this industry?

I think what will happen is, I think there’s going to be a big demand from franchise operations teams to say, okay, well, how are we going to do this? What’s the best way to support franchisees? The actual hiring piece, I think there will be more of that too, because I think more franchisees, they’ll get coached on the financial impact of having the right staff. And I think some franchisers are reluctant to have that conversation right now.

Yeah, they don’t want to get tied into anything in case this thing doesn’t pass, right?

And like, they want to, but ultimately, what they should be doing is saying, hey, if you want to go from, you know, $700,000 in revenue to $2 million in revenue, this is what that takes. This is the team that you have to have, and we want to provide the support for you to be able to get there. Not the support of like, hire this person, don’t hire this person, but giving you the overall resources to do it.

Is there anything on your plate for the rest of this year that you wanted to talk about with CareerPlug? Anything new you’re working on, or a new direction you’re taking?

Yeah, it’s actually a perfect segue, Jack. We’re working on this Franchise People Operating System. And what that is, it’s really our solution to the franchise industry for how we can help franchisors support franchisees with their people.

Got it. So, a People Operating System, that’s interesting, tell me more about it.

It’s really designed to basically create a rhythm for franchise ops teams to talk with their franchisees about people stuff, right? It’s like, if they have a site visit, let’s say, quarterly kind of check-in, the whole time is not going to be spent on people, but I’d like for them to be able to say, hey, let’s spend 30 minutes on this. There’s a way for the franchisor to be able to log into CareerPlug, see big picture, hey, this is what the franchisee wants to accomplish from a revenue perspective. Here’s the team that they’re going to need. This is what the org chart looks like today. This is what it needs to look like in the future to get there. And then actually start looking at some other things. Let’s look at some data and some benchmarking on how you’re doing right now. It could be like, how quickly are you getting back to applicants? What percentage of your applicants are turning into interviews or hires? Recruiting is very similar to sales, Jack, so it’s…

It’s amazing you just said that because I was just putting it into the sales, especially the Franchise Dev Sales process and you’re saying all of the same things. It’s a pipeline.

It’s exactly what it is.

You got to get from high up in the pipeline to closing the deal or, in this case, closing with that person and bringing them on board.

That’s exactly right. If you want predictable results, you’ve got to put a predictable process in place to be able to manage that. You have to look at the pipeline.

You’ve got to look at the resources in certain places.

Absolutely. Then say, hey, well, where are we lacking? It looks like there’s a gap here between when they apply and the ones that are actually getting through to interview. Let’s use our autopilot scheduling, the CareerPlug’s autopilot scheduling tool to be able to improve that, for example. I think being able to get into that rhythm of having that and then maybe having some action items, logging the meeting, having some action items and getting to a regular rhythm. I’m using a rowboat as sort of the visual aspect for this operating system because I think that’s what franchisers do. They’re trying to get everyone to row in the same direction. And I think if you get into a habit of doing this, then that momentum is really going to come on and you’ll see the performance, you’ll see that bottom to middle of the pack start to catch up and really reach your potential.

Yeah, I love that analogy because two, it’s like, if you bring someone on and they’re not rowing in the same direction or at the same pace as you, it’s actually worse than if you just didn’t bring anyone on.

Absolutely.

They’re working against you.

Because, look, it hurts the brand and it creates challenges and there’s going to be a disproportionate amount of support that’s going to have to be given to that person to just really try to manage the situation.

Very cool. Anything else you guys are working on or anything more you want to say about the people operating system?

I would say, actually, what we’re using for franchisees, people know us primarily for hiring.

Yeah.

We’re putting a lot of energy into retention right now and that’s starting first and foremost with onboarding.

That is like the most important thing right now is if you’ve got somebody good, how do you keep them?

How do you keep them? The first place to start is with onboarding. And I’m not talking about the first day forms. I’m talking about that because a lot of people say, oh yeah, we do onboarding with our payroll provider.

We send them a kit with a t-shirt.

Yeah, it’s that or they sit them in front of a screen to watch videos for a week. But a lot of people really think of onboarding, especially people in HR sometimes will think about onboarding as just my I&I, my W for the compliance forms. But what we think about it is it’s a 90 day process of connection. It’s connecting the new hire with the organization, connecting them with their team and connecting with their manager, which is critical. And the goal is at the end of the 90 days, they’re thriving in the role and they’re still there. Because a lot of people, they lose people before 90 days. And that’s the first area to impact. No one takes a job saying, hey, you know what, I think I’m going to do this for a month or two and then leave.

Yeah, they want to cross that off their list and keep going doing something else. And again, you’re kind of making the comparison between hiring and sales when we’re talking about onboarding that new person. It’s just like onboarding a new client.

It’s the same thing.

You wouldn’t set them adrift because you need to interact with them.

You invest in them upfront, set them up for success, and then you can set them free and they’ll do really well.

Awesome. So if people would like to have a conversation with you and your team, or maybe they would just like to get a copy of your book, where can we set them?

Yeah, you can go to our website, careerplug.com, and there’s a way to download an electronic version. Or just email me at clint at careerplug.com and I’ll manage to get you an actual physical copy. If you’re actually here at IFA, I hope you’ve come by to pick one up, but if for some reason you missed our booth, let me know and I’ll get you a copy.

Are you going to be at some other events throughout the rest of this year?

We will. A lot of our events are going to be mostly franchise award brand events like that we’re supporting our franchise awards. Yeah, as far as industry events, we’ll definitely be going to Franchise Business Review in October. That’s a great event for us. We really enjoy working with them. I imagine there’s some other ones on our list as well. I think we’re in the National Restaurant Show to hit some of the restaurant franchises a little more.

Yeah, a lot of great events coming up. I hope to see you down the road in a few places. And like I said, everybody, go to the website, get a copy of the book, have a conversation with the CareerPlug folks, and we will have a link to that site in today’s show notes so people can visit you. Clint, thanks so much for joining me here at IFA 2026.

Thanks for having me on.

We’re back on Social Geek Live at IFA 2026 in the Storytellers Corner Podcast booth. And in the background, I think you can hear the greatest dance hits of the 90s going on, as it has been here all week. Joining me now is Mitch Cohen. Mitch, welcome to the podcast.

Jack, thanks for having me.

So give me a brief overview on all of the stuff you’re doing before we start talking about Multi-Unit Franchising Conference. Tell me about the brands you’re working on and some of the other things you’re doing these days.

Sure, happy to do that. So currently I’m a Jersey Mike’s Franchisee of nine units on Long Island and also a company called Sola Salon Studios. We have four of those open. I’m also advising on two different brands, Leap Brands, which is a search firm, and a new franchise called FranReal. So I’m helping advise on that, which is a real estate broker, which was founded by Ty Brewster.

That’s our buddy Ty. That’s great to hear.

Yeah, so I’m helping out there. And then, of course, I’m chairing the Multi-Unit and I sit on the board of the IFA as well.

And what days of the week are you taking off right now? Not too many, it sounds like.

Nothing that ends in Y. Got it. Got it.

Definitely not today and definitely not tomorrow either. Well, it’s fantastic that you’re the chair of this year’s Multi-Unit Franchising Conference. Let’s talk about that show in particular. It’s probably the most unique conference in the industry. It’s not like anything else. It’s also, I gotta tell you, it’s my favorite show of the year. The content’s just always sort of top-notch.

That’s where all my friends are.

And you’re probably the same way.

Yeah, so exactly. I started going there about 15 years ago and I found that although we get educated in every conference we go to, I get the best nuggets out of Multi-Unit. Talking to friends, we talk about friends. Most of my friends I call them the family from franchising. It is a family and the sharing of knowledge is amazing. With competitors, with new brands that are coming, new franchisees that are coming in that are Multi-Unit operators looking to expand their business. It’s the best investment I made in myself and my business since I started going to these conferences.

Yeah, I work with about 70 brands right now and there’s franchise brands and there’s not a single one of them that I haven’t said, you really need to consider this unless you’re going to, you know, stay flat-lined if you want to grow in 2026, 2027.

This is a show you need to be in.

Yeah, and the beauty of the show is it’s built by franchisees. So, the advisory board is all franchisee, the agenda, the speakers, everything’s franchisees. It’s what’s real today, and it’s also about talking about mistakes that were made in the past, right? So we don’t duplicate those mistakes again. So, you know, the information that you get, the sessions are great, there’s fun in between, there’s a lot of networking that goes on. You know, the pre-franchisee only event that’s going to take place in Carmine’s is an amazing place to network. Every year I meet new friends and they last forever. There’s not a short-term.

Right. Well, I’m not a franchisee, but is there any way you could sneak me into Carmine’s? I mean, come on. It’s Carmine’s.

If not, I’ll get your doggy back.

Yeah. Just drop it off outside. That’d be great. I do want to mention great speaker lineup. I just noticed a couple of things. You know, besides yourself, we also have Greg Flynn speaking, Daryl Johnson from Fran Data. Some guy named Matt Haller, I think is going to drop by.

That guy’s everywhere.

And also, I didn’t realize this until I started following him on Instagram a few weeks ago. You’ve got Jim Craig from the 1980 gold medal US hockey team.

Yes, we do. Timing is everything, right?

So you planned it out that we were going to win gold this week, right?

I prayed we were. So, you know, it’s funny because I’m actually friendly with Jim. And when his name came up or when I was thinking of speakers, the motivational people, I’ve seen him speak before. And I, he came to me right away and he’s so giving in every industry and for different businesses that he speaks to. But I remember exactly where I was. I do, too. For that game against Russia 46 years ago. And then I was on the plane now when we just won. And I’ll never forget that either. But I was literally texting him and I said, Hey Jim, just so you know, great game, happy anniversary. And now really, you guys don’t mean that much anymore. Because this is a new big thing. Right. So, you know, and he gave me an emoji thumbs up. So, but we’re looking forward to him. He’ll be a great speaker. And he’ll, I think he’s going to hang around a little bit. So people have a chance to talk to him.

Yeah, I would love the chance to meet him as well. I’ve been following him for a while, especially since I found out he’s been doing some of these speaking gigs for a while. And it’s like, what a better speaker to have, especially here in the spring of 2026. So that’s fantastic. If anyone would like to register for the MUFC 26, I want to throw in a quick note that it’s the 24th through the 27th at Caesar’s Forum in Las Vegas. And you can register today at Multi-Unit Franchising conference.com. And all of the speakers are there and all of that stuff too. So please, we’ll have a link to that in today’s show notes. Anything else you would like to throw out there as far as why this is a great event for brands to be involved in and for franchisees to attend?

So when I’m looking at it from a brand perspective, you have the best of the best in franchisees that are coming to this event. They’re trying to better themselves. So if you’re looking to get great franchisees inside your brand, this is the place to go. From a franchisees perspective, the top brands are there. The top vendors are there. Like I said, I’ve always taken away great nuggets from it. And the friendships that you’re going to make there are going to be long lasting. And from myself, I’ve brought my partners who don’t go to conferences. That is the only conference they go to every year. They haven’t missed it. So one of the things that we are looking at is record attendance. We are above the record attendance from last year. And we’re continuing to grow. There’s still plenty of space available for vendors, for franchisees to sign up. And I think it’s really important. So I’m the 26th chair. And my goal and my task is to make sure I break all the records for attendance. So please come help me out.

I didn’t know that this had turned into a competition.

It is now.

All right, very good. Well, congratulations on the record attendance already. And let’s see if we can blow those numbers up a little bit more. Again, if anyone would like to register, it’s multiunitfranchisingconference.com. Mitch, thanks so much for joining us here at Ifa 2026. And we will see you again in just a couple of weeks in Las Vegas.

Thanks for having me, Jack. Really appreciate it.

Thanks to all of today’s guests, Alli Kraus, Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, Danielle Wright, Scott Greenberg, Clint Smith, and Mitch Cohen. Thanks also to the IFA for hosting us in Franchise Main Street, and to our sponsors, Answer Connect, Citrin Cooperman, and Thunderly. And thanks to you for listening, telling a friend about us, and staying connected on the Social Geek Radio Network.