FRANZY THE WEEKLY BRIEFING | | | Hey there, Welcome back to the Franzy Five. Big week in the industry and a bigger one inside our four walls. If you owned a McDonald’s, who would set the price of a Big Mac? I would have said the person running the restaurant. A Reuters story this week made me look closer at that answer. We’ve also got news on where Franzy is headed this October, a new brand on the platform, a conversation with a KidStrong operator who’s opened 20 centers, and what a Big Mac cost in 1967. | In This Edition | 📰 McDonald’s, AI pricing, and the owner’s final say | | 🗣️ Franzy is headed to Venture Atlanta | | 🏷️ Brand of the Week: Rolling Suds | | 📊 What a Big Mac cost in 1967 | | 🎙️ What changes when your one location becomes 20 | | 🔍 The Fine Print: default and termination rights |
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| | In the News McDonald’s has a price suggestion for your restaurantWhat's happening:Reuters reported Tuesday that McDonald’s uses a machine-learning tool to recommend prices for individual restaurants. It weighs transaction data and what the system estimates customers in a particular area will pay. The company says franchisees set their own final prices and that the tool is guidance, not a mandate. Five store owners told Reuters they felt pressured to follow it. Why it matters: A lower menu price might bring in more customers. The owner still has to pay the restaurant’s labor, food, rent, and other bills. McDonald’s has a reason to watch traffic and sales across the system; the franchisee has to make the math work at that store. Reuters also reported that some franchisees have been asked about prices that differ from the recommendations. The big picture: I like better information. I’d probably want to see what the tool recommended. But I’d also want to know what happens when I disagree with it. If you’re evaluating any franchise, ask current owners who makes the final call on pricing and what support they get when costs rise locally. That’s a better question than asking whether the brand uses AI. |
| | Heard at Franzy Franzy Is Headed to Venture AtlantaFranzy was selected to present at the Venture Atlanta Conference this October as a Growth Stage company. Last year we were a pre-seed company standing in that room. This year we skipped straight to the Growth Stage. Feels about right, considering this has been the fastest year of growth I’ve ever been part of. Two years ago this was an idea about fixing how people buy franchises. Now we have 400+ brands live on the Marketplace, tens of thousands of people who have come through to compare them, and we have helped nearly 100 people become business owners. We are also sharing a new product this year, something multi-unit operators have been asking for without knowing it existed yet. More soon. I am looking forward to meeting fellow business owners and connecting with new investors. Building the next chapter of franchising together starts here. | | Brand of the Week Rolling Suds Soft washing and pressure washing, run out of a service vehicle. Investment Range $211,150 - $299,250 | Avg Gross Sales $461,189 |
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Rolling Suds has been washing buildings since 1990. The original business opened in Warrington, PA, and the franchise system started in August 2022. Franchisees offer pressure washing, concrete cleaning, window and gutter cleaning, kitchen vent hood cleaning and fleet washing for residential, commercial and municipal customers. The numbers come from Item 19 for fiscal 2025. The average is based on 25 reporting franchised outlets, with a median of $324,973 and a range of $92,837 to $1,406,102. Twenty of those outlets cleared $200K and averaged $535,458. The brand reports 135 total units as of December 31, 2025. Results are unaudited and will vary. Rolling Suds is one of the newest brands on the Franzy platform. The investment range above is for a single territory, and multi-territory options are available. If a hands-on service business with a vehicle and a crew sounds like you, it is worth a look. | | By the Numbers 45 cents What a Big Mac cost when it debuted in 1967 |
The Big Mac first went on sale on April 22, 1967, at a McDonald’s franchise in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. It was created by the restaurant’s owner, Jim Delligatti, and sold for 45 cents. It did well locally, and in 1968 McDonald’s rolled it out to restaurants across the United States. One of the most famous menu items in the world started with a franchisee trying something at his own store. Worth remembering when you read the story above. | | This Week from Franzy Twenty centers open. Sixty-one in the agreement. Joe Pedatella spent nearly 30 years running a fitness club before his son was born and he started looking at KidStrong. He spent eight months vetting the brand. Five and a half years later, he says he has 20 centers open and a development agreement for 61. An agreement is a plan to develop locations, not 61 open centers. Joe joined me on The Exit Plan to talk about what his job looked like at the first center and how it changed as the number grew. I especially liked his point that you can’t open locations seven times faster by working seven times harder. At some point, you have to build a team that can operate without you solving every problem.
If you’re thinking about multiple units, start there: what work will you need to stop doing yourself? | | The Fine Print Default and Termination Rights The section of the agreement nobody reads until something goes wrong. What it is. Your franchise agreement spells out what counts as a default, like missed royalty payments or brand standard violations, and what the franchisor can do about it, up to ending the agreement. The catch. Cure periods vary a lot. Some agreements give you weeks to fix a problem. Others allow termination with little or no notice for certain defaults. Cross-default clauses can turn a problem at one location into a problem at all of them. Why it matters. If the relationship breaks down, this section decides who keeps the stores, the lease and the customers. Wendy’s and its bankrupt 314-store franchisee Meritage are fighting over exactly that question right now. The move. Before you sign, find the default section in Item 17 of the FDD and in the agreement itself. Note every cure period, every cross-default and what happens to your assets on termination. Then have a franchise attorney walk you through it. | | More from the Industry Three other stories worth your time this week. | Reply if any of these caught your eye. We read everything. - Alex | | | FRANZY Franzy is the modern way to find and own a franchise.
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