What happens when two veteran franchisors look at the industry and realize that one of the biggest challenges of all at the unit level - is driving local traffic!

You get Sweet Influencers, a first-of-its-kind platform built by Angela Olea and Liberty Bernal, designed specifically to connect franchise systems with vetted nano and micro influencers, who move the needle at the local level.

Angela spent decades in senior care, scaling her brand Assisted Living Locators to 166 franchises before selling to private equity in 2024. Liberty entered franchising straight out of high school, later founding Liberty Fitness, manufacturing proprietary equipment, and attracting private equity at age 24. Together, they bring forty years of hands-on franchising experience—and a shared understanding of the traffic challenge facing every brand.

In this episode, they break down why influencer marketing is the modern equivalent of early digital marketing: underpriced, underutilized, and massively effective when done correctly. They explain why local creators outperform large influencers, how AI can streamline brand–creator matching, and why real-time campaign oversight matters for protecting franchise brands.

Sweet Influencers offers accessible pricing for single-unit operators and multi-unit groups alike, along with a soon-to-launch platform featuring AI-driven tools, brand protection safeguards, campaign approvals, and a free ROI calculator.

If you want to understand the future of franchise marketing—and how authentic, localized influence can transform unit-level economics—this episode is for you.

After years in recruiting, franchise development, and lead generation, Dan Claps sold his company to build something else, on his own. That decision became the foundation for VODA Cleaning & Restoration — but the company nearly collapsed after launch.

In this episode, Dan shares the gritty truth behind VODA'S early struggles: high monthly losses, a failing model, and the moment he realized that defending his ideas was sinking the business. Everything changed when he started listening — really listening — to franchise candidates and early operators. Their feedback reshaped the model and sparked explosive system-wide growth.

Today, VODA has 107 franchises across 260 territories in 32 states, backed by a dual-revenue model (carpet leaning + restoration,) a 24/7 national call center, and more than 9,000 five-star reviews. Dan explains how transparency, principle-centered leadership, weekly communication rhythms, and culture-first decision-making became VODA'S real competitive advantages.

This episode is a masterclass in humility, resilience,and building a franchise system that wins by putting franchisees first.

After 41 years in hospitality and franchising, Paul Damico has seen it all — scaling restaurant brands through explosive growth, navigating economic downturns, selling companies for a combined $90 million, and now revitalizing two iconic, 60-year-old legacy brands: Perkins and Huddle House.

In this episode, Paul sits down with Stan Friedman to share how his career began at Marriott in 1986 before co-founding a 102-unit restaurant portfolio, leading Moe’s Southwest Grill from 160 to 700+ locations, and overseeing more than 5,000 restaurants at Focus Brands.

Now, as CEO of Ascent Hospitality Management, Paul is rebuilding two classic American brands through a back-to-basics approach — deep franchisee engagement, stronger leadership recruitment, operational discipline, and a renewed focus on loyalty over acquisition.

Paul explains today’s biggest shift in restaurant behavior: diners aren’t trading down… they’re disappearing. With fast food no longer a clear value play, he reveals how casual dining may actually reclaim value leadership in the coming years.

He also outlines what he looks for in franchise partners: substantial liquidity, meaningful net worth, portfolio experience, and the ability to open a minimum of five units within three years.

If you want to understand legacy brand turnarounds, strategic franchising, or the next era of restaurant growth — this episode is for you.

Nick Lopez left Colorado as a wide-eyed first-generation college student, to work on a BS in Business Marketing at Michigan State. His plan was to "walk on" to the wrestling team, which would ultimately pay for the cost of tuition and living.

The reality was that a scholarship was a couple of years away, so Nick made the tough decision to hang up his wrestling boots for an entrepreneurial endeavor, in order to support the cost of his education.

At the age of 19, Nick founded his painting company and every summer thereafter, he painted homes to help pay for tuition, books, and cost of living. By doing so, Nick developed a real passion and love for the craft of home improvement. In his third year as the owner of the company, the “light bulb” went off. Nick realized that those years of painting didn’t have to be his last, and that a future in the home improvement industry made sense. From that point forward, Nick focused on building a business that would set the standard for excellence in painting and home improvement.

He's here today, to tell us all about it.

What separates a successful franchise exit from a costly one?
In this week’s episode of Franchise Today, Stan Friedman sits down with Patrick Galeher, Founder, CEO and Managing Partner of Boxwood Partners, one of the leading M&A advisory firms focused on franchising and multi-unit brands.

Patrick has lived every side of the franchise world — franchisor, franchisee and supplier — giving him a 360-degree perspective few deal-makers ever have. Before founding Boxwood, he scaled Sweet Frog from 15 to 350 locations before selling to MTY Kahala in 2018. Since then, Boxwood has guided powerhouse brands such as Stretch Zone, AdvantaClean and The Lash Lounge through successful liquidity events.

Patrick reveals how alignment, not just valuation multiples, creates lasting value — and why the best M&A advisors start by deeply understanding their clients before ever calling a buyer. He explains how franchise M&A differs from typical middle-market deals, what investors really look for, and how founders can prepare years in advance for a strong exit.

Whether you’re a franchisor, franchisee or private-equity partner, this conversation delivers a masterclass in how to build, buy and sell brands the right way.

What happens when two brothers nearly lose everything—only to discover they were accidentally building a franchise model the entire time?

In this Encore episode, host Stan Friedman sits down with Ryan Parsons, CEO of Evive Brands and co-founder of The Brothers That Just Do Gutters. What started as a small family-owned gutter business nearly went bankrupt during the 2007–2008 recession, after diversifying into general construction. But that crisis forced a pivotal realization: their true success lay in focusing on what they did best—gutters.

By embracing the “riches are in the niches” philosophy, they built systems, processes, and a customer experience so strong that clients assumed they were already a franchise. That assumption sparked the birth of what is now one of the fastest-growing home services franchise brands in America, with over 300 territories.

Ryan shares how turning down early private equity offers led to even greater opportunities—including becoming CEO of an entire portfolio of brands under the Evive platform. He also reveals why brilliant basics—answering the phone, showing up on time, wearing professional uniforms—are still the ultimate differentiator in franchising today.

👉 If you want to hear how near-failure can become the foundation of franchise greatness, this episode is a masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and strategic focus.

What happens when a journalism graduate with no franchiseexperience gets assigned a PR client that changes her entire professional destiny? That’s exactly what happened to Monica Feid, co-founder and COO of Thunderly Marketing, Advertising and PR. What started as a random PRassignment to the Dwyer Group in 1996 became the beginning of a decades-long career shaping some of franchising’s most recognized brands.

In this episode, Monica joins host Stan Friedman toshare how franchising “found her,” how her partner's vision transformed BizCom Associates into Thunderly, and why AI is transforming franchise marketing faster than mostbrands are ready to handle. She explains the shift from SEO to GEO—Generative Engine Optimization—and why brands must rethink how they show up in AI-driven search results.

You’ll also hear why 56% of website leads receive zerofollow-up, how remote work and global talent have reshaped agency growth, and why younger, highly educated entrepreneurs are now entering franchising to control their destinies.

👉 If you want to understand the next evolution of franchise development, digital marketing, AI, and the power of serendipity in career-building, you won’t want to miss thisconversation.

"This week, Shelly Sun Berkowitz, founder ofBrightStarCare, joins host Stan Friedman for a deeply personal and inspiring conversation about the intersection of franchising, family, and female entrepreneurship. Shelly’s journey was born out of her personal need to find care for her grandmother. Shelly’s decision to expand BrightStar through franchising came later though, and began with a spark — watching her mother-in-law invest in a Choice Hotels franchise. The passion to help families with care andthe franchise spark ignited a career that would lead to one of the most respected senior care brands in America. But during COVID, she found herself working 20-hour days while caring for her autistic son, Luc. It was a breaking point that led to her decision to sell BrightStar and prioritize family — but also lead her to her next great purpose.

Today, through Founder to Founder and Next Phase Capital, Shelly mentors entrepreneurs and provides “patient capital” for founders scaling and exiting on their own terms. She’s also tackling the harsh truth that only 1.9% of women-owned businesses ever reach $1 million in revenue, helping women founders overcome systemic barriers to funding and confidence.

👉 Listen now to hear Shelly’s hard-earned wisdom on balancing ambition with authenticity — and building businesses that honor both profit and purpose.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Bill Chaffee and his undying effort to promote initiatives to assure the furtherance of success, for women in C-Suites of franchising."