314 Wendy's, one bankruptcy, and a few lessons

Hey there,

Welcome back to the Franzy Five. A Wendy's operator with 314 restaurants filed for bankruptcy protection last week. I want to spend a little time on what happened, because the problems are worth understanding whether you're buying your first location or your tenth.

I've also got an update from the IFA Advocacy Summit and a look at Bowie Barker, a dog-grooming business built around memberships. And we're trying a new section, Worth Stealing, starting with something from David Senra's conversation with Peter Rahal that stayed with me this week.

A large Wendy's operator files for Chapter 11

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I was in Washington talking about the American Franchise Act

I was at the IFA Advocacy Summit discussing the American Franchise Act. It's worth understanding if you're thinking about becoming a franchise owner.

The issue is "joint employer": when the franchisor can also be treated as an employer of people working for a franchisee. Under the bill's proposed standard for federal labor and wage law, the franchisor would have to possess and exercise substantial direct and immediate control over at least one essential employment term, such as pay or hiring.

That gets technical quickly. But the underlying question is practical: how are responsibilities divided between the person running the local business and the brand supporting it?

The IFA reported White House support at the summit. The bill still hasn't become law. Keep it on your radar, but don't treat that announcement as a change to today's rules.

He was franchisee number one. Now he runs the company.

At 22, Kyle Chiasson was working in banking when he became the first franchisee of a restoration brand with no locations. He joined me on the September 16 episode of The Exit Plan.

One of his stories: spending New Year's Eve in an attic pulling out wet insulation and texting a friend that he wasn't going to make the party. That was year one.

We also talk about why the company turns some franchise candidates away. If you're considering an emerging brand, this is a useful conversation about the work you're signing up for and what you can validate before committing.

Bowie Barker

Membership-based dog grooming, with a self-serve wash option.

Bowie Barker opened its first store in Los Angeles in May 2022. As of April 30, 2026, it had eight stores across California, Illinois and Arizona: six franchised and two company-owned. Customers buy memberships and pick how they want it done. With "We Wash," the team bathes, dries and brushes the dog and handles nails, teeth and ears. With "You Wash," members use the store's tubs, products and towels themselves.

The Item 19 goes deep for a young brand. It includes a full P&L and monthly membership counts for the two company-owned stores, plus gross sales and member growth for the two franchised stores that have been open at least 18 months. At both company-owned stores, memberships were the biggest source of gross sales. It's still an early system, so spend time with current owners on ramp-up and staffing.

Why we like it: recurring membership revenue in a category with 71 million dog-owning households (more on that below). Bowie Barker is on Franzy now, and our advisors can walk you through the full FDD.

That's the American Pet Products Association's figure in its 2026 State of the Industry report. APPA also says dog owners are becoming more value-conscious about spending.

A large dog-owning population gives you a reason to look at the category. For a particular shop, I'd still want to know what people nearby already pay for grooming and whether they'd keep coming back at your price. This is a household-ownership number, not a count of grooming customers.

You need to expect some hard days

I listened to David Senra's conversation with Peter Rahal, the co-founder of RXBAR and David Protein, this week. They spend some time on pain tolerance: being willing to keep taking on the uncomfortable parts of building a business when someone else might decide they've had enough.

I think that applies just as much to someone opening a dog-grooming shop as it does to someone building a protein-bar company.

I won't lie to you. Buying a franchise doesn't mean everything will go smoothly or that you'll be printing money on day one. You might lose an employee and have to cover shifts while you find a replacement. Sales might take longer to build than you planned. A franchise can give you a system to work from. You still have to work through those problems.

Rahal also makes an important distinction: suffering for no benefit isn't useful. Staying with it has to include learning and changing what isn't working. It can mean having an uncomfortable conversation you've been putting off, or asking for help before a problem gets bigger.

I do believe there can be light at the end of that tunnel. But I'd rather you go in prepared for the hard parts than feel like you've failed the first time it gets difficult. Give yourself room to learn, and enough time to see whether the changes you're making are helping.

Three other stories worth your time this week.

Reply if any of these caught your eye. We read everything.

- Alex

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