Today on the most popular franchise podcast, we’re wrapping up 2025 with the Franchise Rock Stars.

What did we learn this year?

What worked?

What did NOT work? 

Today's Franchise Rock Star Panel: Derrick Ableman, Scott Greenberg, Kristen Pechacek, and Danielle Wright joining host Jack Monson. We’re missing Ali Kraus today --  see you in January!

Thanks to all of our sponsors for 2025: Citrin Cooperman, Northeast Color, WSI, Hughes, Vendasta, Franzy, Promotex, and Thunderly.

Special Guests: Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, and Scott Greenberg.

We talk a lot about Multi-Unit Owners and Legacy Brands in franchising. But the life blood for the future of franchising and small business ownership is the Emerging Brand.

Today on the most popular franchise podcast, we’re live at the SMB Franchise Summit hearing from new Emerging Franchisors about how they’re growing in 2026!

Thanks for joining us:

• Marc Howland of Breadless
• Dominique Sandu of D. Sierra Lash Co.
• Fabienne Van Buchem and Aditya Jain of Beambar
• Steve Moore of Epoxy Depot
• Courtney Del Vecchio of Sweatfluence
• Tamika Franklyn of Precision Franchise

And thanks to Steve Beagelman, Dawn Abbamondi and the SMB Franchise Advisors crew for hosting us.

Thanks to Citrin Cooperman, Northeast Color,, Hughes, and Thunderly

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

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

It doesn’t matter what you do with AI.

There…I said it. Come and get me, snake oil salesman.

What DOES matter is what your candidates and customers do with AI and how they’re finding you.

It’s the Marketing & Innovation Update for October on the most popular franchise podcast, Social Geek!

Patti Rother, Founder and CEO of Root + Rise, is here to help Fran Dev pros feed the Large Language Models with answers for their brands.

We’ll cover:

• Why Reddit is now so important and how you can get started

• Using Wikipedia as your guide to sharing your facts and data

• Other places to share your brand’s unified messaging to gain authority

• How video content is currently feeding answers

• Why PR and earned media are more critical than ever

Shout outs to our all-star team members Jacqui Blair, Islam Tawfik, Willem van Daalen, Madison Leavy, Grace Gorman, and Jason Weaver.

Next, I’ll chat with Jeffrey Leach of Vendasta to dive into AI for local franchisee marketing.

Jeff shares the results from Vendasta’s new study of 20 franchise brands looking at their franchisees’ local AI marketing services. There are some amazing conversions via web chats, SMS conversations, and booking services.

Connect with Jeff to learn more about the survey results.

Thanks to Northeast Color, Hughes, and Thunderly ⚡

Special Guests: Jeff Leach and Patti Rother.

What do brands really need from their partners and vendors?

And how can suppliers best manage those relationships?

It’s Episode 1200 of Social Geek! The Franchise Rock Stars are back on the most popular podcast in franchising: Kristen Pechacek, Ali Kraus, Derrick Abelman, and Danielle Wright.

We’re diving deep into the three-legged stool of Franchisors, Franchisees, and Suppliers to discuss:

*Monthly check-ins versus monthly challenge

*Using your suppliers and partners to get stronger and better

*Saying NO and making it okay to say no

*Are relationships in franchising getting better? Are they getting harder?

*What are CEOs of brands really looking for now?

*What are the signs of a client quietly quitting?

Thanks also to today’s sponsors: Citrin Cooperman, Northeast Color, Hughes, and Thunderly.

Special Guests: Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, and Kristen Pechacek.

Where are your best new leads coming from? What’s your go-to source for the best candidates who will make the best franchisees?

Franchise Development Marketing is the focus on today’s show with some of my favorite franchise brand leaders recorded LIVE at Franchise Expo West in LA. You’ll hear from:

Robert Bhagwandat, Checkers & Rally’s

Megan Birkey, McDonald’s

Mark Treptow, Gong Cha

Jimmy Weeks, Internet Strategy Labs

Matt Sawicki, Black Sheep Coffee

Carlo Verdugo, Juice It Up!

Plus, Michael Seid of MSA discusses several hot Franchising topics for this fall and Kim Gusman of CEA / California Employers Association shares why California is still a great place to develop franchises!

Thanks to Northeast Color,, Hughes, Citrin Cooperman, and Thunderly.

It’s the Franchise Marketing Fall Preview on Social Geek!

Matt Haller, CEO of The International Franchise Association gives a preview of this year’s IFA Advocacy Summit in DC and the association’s view on top issues for small business.

Ali Kraus of Benetrends and Bloomin’ Blinds’ Kristopher Stuart discuss the launch of Furry Frans, the franchise community’s exciting new non-profit project.

Ford Saeks, keynote speaker and author, shares the topics that his audiences are asking about the most this year.

Brent Greenwood of Sport Clips gives us an update on the Multi-Unit side of franchise and the growth he’s seeing for his brand and sector.

And Shawn Caric of Smoothie King wraps up the show with a discussion about the 2025 Franchise Leadership & Development Conference. Shawn is this year’s FLDC Chair and gives a sneak peek at this year’s content.

And all of today’s guests share their take the hottest Franchise Development and Franchise Marketing trends including:

GEO / AEO / SEO impacting franchise lead generation
LLM seeding for fran dev
A confident outlook on franchise growth for 2025/2026!

Thanks to Citrin Cooperman, Northeast Color, Hughes, and Thunderly.

Special Guests: Ali Kraus, Brent Greenwood, Ford Saeks, Kris Stuart, Matt Haller, and Shawn Caric.

Recorded live at IFE 2025 in New York with MFV Expositions!

It's the final chapter in our 4 part series of conversations with founders, CEOs, and Franchise Development leaders including:

Richard Snow of Brooklyn Robot Foundry

Rochelle Castiglione of Merry Maids

Ben Woodruff of WOOPS!

Collin Benyo of The Melting Pot

Giles Brake of Alliott Global Alliance

Thanks to Northeast Color, Franzy, Hughes, and Furry Frans.

Recorded live at IFE 2025 in New York with MFV Expositions!

It's part 3 in our series of conversations with founders, CEOs, and Franchise Development leaders including:

Will Richards of Dill Dinkers Pickleball

Greg Salzano of Philly Pretzel Factory

Jeff Brazier of Kiddie Academy

Utkash Yadav of Sigri Indian BBQ

Kizito Paganini of Wrap City

Thanks to Northeast Color, Franzy, Hughes, and Furry Frans.

Recorded live at IFE 2025 in New York with MFV Expositions!

Special thanks to Dawn Abbamondi and the team at SMB Franchise Advisors for introducing me to so many interesting emerging Franchise brands.

Today, we’re speaking with:

Jon Sieber, Storytime Chess / Chess at Three

Mike Chidester, Chiddy’s Cheesesteak

Kate Pawlowski, DDH

Eddie Fahmy, Doner Haus

Diane, Alvin, and Eric Thomas, New Life Assisted Living

Bret Suffis, Lil’ Athletes

Thanks to Northeast Color, Franzy, Hughes, and Furry Frans.

And save the date for the next franchise show on the calendar: Franchise Expo West in LA September 5 & 6. We would love to have you join us and tell your story on a future podcast.

We’re only as bad as today. We’re always getting better tomorrow.
-Sam Stanovich
 

Recorded LIVE at The International Franchise Expo 2025 in New York with MFV Expositions!

We kicked off IFE 2025 speaking with one of my favorite franchisors and restauranteurs, Sam Stanovich of Craveworthy Brands. Sam is always up for sharing ideas about new innovations in both the board room and the kitchen at Big Chicken, Taffer’s Tavern, and more.

Next we chat with another Craveworthy Brand leader, Justin Egan of Wing It On who is true “wingnut!”

We were also thrilled to see the return of McDonald’s to the IFE and had a chance to sit down with Edit Dolce to discuss what makes a great McDonald’s operator and the brand’s openness to innovation.

Gabriel Cruz of Honest Art chats about membership models and recurring revenues to help new franchisees become successful early.

FranchiseWire’s Editor-In-Chief Jill Abrahamson shares the hottest trends she’s seeing in franchising and what readers are searching for in 2025.

And we wrap up part up 1 with Dr John Hayes, who is in his 33rd year of presenting “The A to Zs of Buying a Franchising” at IFE, reflects on some of the changes he’s seen and reveals some BIG changes for his plans for the future at the Titus Center

Thanks to Northeast Color, Franzy, Hughes, and Furry Frans.

Special Guest: Sam Stanovich.

It’s the Marketing & Innovation Update for July.

Generative Search or AI Search is shifting the SEO game from getting from a list of results to a single answer to a question.

Steve Buors, CEO and co-founder of ReShift Media is here to answer franchisors’ questions like:

• Is your website traffic declining already due to AI? 

• How strong is your brand’s authority?

• How will all of this change your content marketing strategy?

Listen now on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and more.

Thanks to Citrin Cooperman, Franzy, Hughes, and Thunderly ⚡

Special Guest: Steve Buors.

The Social Geek Marketing & Innovation series rolls on with video help from a pro.

YouTuber Amy Landino of AmyTV is here to help you make better videos.

Amy discusses:

• Long-form versus short-form video
• How to pull people in at the beginning of your video
• The importance of hooks and thumbnails

And she shares her proven 5-step formula that will make your videos perform better today.

Subscribe to AmyTV on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@AmyTV

Thanks to Franzy, Hughes, and Thunderly

https://franzy.com/socialgeek
http://hughes.com/franchise
https://thunderlymarketing.com

Special Guest: Amy Landino.

Today: One On One with restaurant expert and entrepreneur Lauren Fernandez of Full Course.

Lauren brings us up to speed on all things food & franchising. We'll discuss restaurant trends and hot topics including labor, digitization, robots, menu trends, Nowstalgia, and consumer behavior.

Thanks to Vendasta, Franzy, Hughes, and Citrin Cooperman

http://vendasta.com/franchise
https://franzy.com/socialgeek
http://hughes.com/franchise
https://www.citrincooperman.com/Industries/Franchising

Special Guest: Lauren Fernandez.

It’s the Marketing and Innovation Update for June, 2025.

Entrepreneur, Podcaster, and now Franchisee Richard Snow shares an update on the IFA Franchise Ascension Initiative.
Next, Sherry McNeil of the Canadian Franchise Association joins the podcast to wish all of you a Happy World Franchise Day!

Today’s show is brought to you by Vendasta, Franzy, Hughes, and Thunderly ⚡

Special Guests: Richard Snow and Sherry McNeil.

Today we’ve got a two-part conversation with Gini Dietrich of Spin Sucks.

First, Gini returns to Social Geek with an update on the PESO model – the relationship of implementing Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned media strategies. She shares stories about:

• Challenges in measuring all media but in different ways

• The effect of AI on the PESO model and what’s next

• Creating good content still matters most for humans, search engines, and AI

Then join us over on the Franchise Freaks podcast for part 2 of our conversation!

Thanks to Vendasta, Franzy, Hughes, and Thunderly ⚡

http://vendasta.com/franchise
https://franzy.com/socialgeek
http://hughes.com/franchise
https://thunderlymarketing.com/

Special Guest: Gini Dietrich.

“There are two types of Franchises…”

• Jon Taffer, restauranteur, entrepreneur, and host of Bar Rescue.

Jon Taffer joins the podcast to share stats visits to restaurants, the branding behind Taffer’s Tavern, and why it’s a Tavern, NOT just a bar.

Our friends Josh Halpern and Sam Stanovich from Craveworthy Brands also join us for a compelling conversation about how connectivity makes an establish great. Recorded live at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago!

Listen now on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and more.

Thanks to Vendasta, Franzy, Hughes, and Thunderly ⚡

Shout outs to Gregg Majewski, Big Chicken, Shaquille O’Neal, IFA, The IFA World Franchise Show, and Franchise Freaks.

Special Guests: Jon Taffer, Josh Halpern, and Sam Stanovich.

Welcome to Just Jania, the podcast hosted by Jania Bailey and powered by FranNet.

Today Jania welcomes Jason Feifer, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, back to the podcast for conversation about opportunity  management, championing innovation, and the relationship between content & connection.

Bad Bosses.

We’ve all had them and we don’t wanna be them.

Today The Franchise Rock Stars are here to share some horror stories and some advice. Join Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, Kristen Pechacek, and Scott Greenberg!

For more details on the amazing new certification program Scott mentioned, please visit www.hemsworldwide.com

Thanks to Vendasta, Franzy, Hughes, and Citrin Cooperman

http://vendasta.com/franchise
https://franzy.com/socialgeek
http://hughes.com/franchise
https://www.citrincooperman.com/Franchising

Special Guests: Ali Kraus, Danielle Wright, Derrick Ableman, and Scott Greenberg.