--- title: "⛫ The Best Franchisees Go Deep" url: https://burnaze.com/article/b59aae11-0d61-4569-9473-aee530e046eb source: "Empires Weekly" original_url: https://empirespod.substack.com/p/the-best-franchisees-go-deep author: "Patrick Buckley" category: "Franchise Industry" industry: "Franchise Industry" topics: ["Development & multi-unit"] published: 2026-07-20T20:18:10.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T13:15:36.733Z image: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!m__G!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd234f7a2-4448-4441-b96d-6b10af53c84a_1200x600.png --- # ⛫ The Best Franchisees Go Deep **TL;DR:** Many successful franchisees start with one brand and focus on it for a long time before expanding to other brands. Examples include Raj Patel with Dunkin', Harsh Ghai with Burger King, and Greg Flynn who started with Applebee's and later acquired other brands. *By Patrick Buckley, originally published in Empires Weekly on 2026-07-20. [Read the original](https://empirespod.substack.com/p/the-best-franchisees-go-deep).* ## Story Today’s edition gives some thought on a common thread I’ve seen in top franchisees, as well as the latest podcast that just went live minutes ago. Leading QSR and fast-casual brands - including Chick-fil-A, Starbucks, Goop Kitchen, and more - trust **CloudKitchens** to expand into new markets faster and at a fraction of the cost of traditional real estate. With an upfront investment of less than 10% of a brick-and-mortar location and 2.5–4.9x higher return on invested capital, **CloudKitchens** helps brands grow with less risk and overhead. I was speaking to a franchisee the other week who is considering raising capital to execute a roll-up. He mentioned his plan was to get into 2-4 brands simultaneously and build out a large portfolio. It gave me pause, because the more I study and learn individual franchisees’ stories, a pattern becomes clear: **Many of the most successful franchisees started with one brand and didn’t deviate from that for a very long time.** Raj Patel, who **I interviewed at the end of 2025**, repeatedly referred to Dunkin’ as his “engine” that makes all his investments in other brands possible. Harsh Ghai, who **recently came on the podcast**, has been accumulating Burger King’s since the 1990s. And even bigger than these two, are Shane McGuinness and Greg Flynn. The 1st ever Planet Fitness franchisee, Shane McGuiness, built 114 locations over the course of a few decades. He then sold all of his locations back to corporate for $800 million at the beginning of 2022. One concept. That’s it. Meanwhile, Greg Flynn owns 7 restaurant brands today generating over $5 billion. But it all started with an acquisition of 7 Applebee’s in 1999. And he didn’t stop building/acquiring Applebee’s for 11 years. His next brand didn’t come until 2011, at which point Flynn had 450+ Applebee’s under his ownership. Most people would’ve called it a day then & there, but Flynn obviously kept growing. But the point is…his performance in Applebee’s enabled the rest of his success. The playbook is simple: 1. Find your engine 2. Go deep Easy to understand, but harder in practice to show up every day for 10+ years, execute, and avoid distractions. Eliot McDonald has worked at nearly all the big chicken tender concepts: - Slim Chickens - Raising Cane’s - Layne’s Chicken Fingers Eventually, he decided he had it what it took to do it himself. That’s why he founded **The Coop**, a chicken tender concept with 3 locations open, and 3 more that should be open by the end of the year. In our conversation, Eliot takes us through his full journey as an entrepreneur - from a shift manager at Cane’s to founding The Coop. We talk about why tender focused concepts can perform so well, the differences operationally between the concepts he’s worked at, and what he's doing differently at his own brand to win in this segment. Watch/listen below, as well as check out some of my favorite quotes! > *“I’ve seen some Cane’s that do $12 or 13 million”* > *“I’ll be upfront with you. It cost me $165,000 to open this store.”* > *“If Cane’s were to add spicy, I think it would break the internet. It’d make the McRib come back look like nothing.”* > *“Ninety percent of their locations are probably the best run operations in QSR, period.”* > *“One day I just woke up. I said, screw this. I’m starting my own brand.”* > *“It’s going to do 1.2 to 1.3 million the first year. It’ll net 250-ish off that.”* > *“I didn’t know that the store could do this. It was a $1,750 hour.”* **Jersey Mike’s IPO Could Raise $1B+** The sandwich chain could secure the restaurant industry’s largest public offering of the past 20 years. **McDonald’s Hires Nike Vet** Ugwechi Amadi will help the company bring its NEXT strategy to life and create new opportunities for growth. **Costco Opens 1st Standalone Gas Station** The new Mission Viejo station offers fuel at prices well below the Orange County average, creating a new competitive threat for nearby convenience retail operators. **How Casey’s is Outperforming The Industry** Executives and analysts credit a restaurant-style approach and steady execution for the retailer’s six straight years of inside same-store sales growth. **How Grocer’s are Making Price Cuts a Top Priority** Retailers have recently focused on creative loyalty strategies and lowering the cost of staple items to connect with financially stressed consumers. ## Entities - brand expansion (topic) - restaurant industry (topic) - Multi-Unit (sector) - Starbucks (company) - Dunkin' Brands (company) - Burger King (company) - multi-unit development (topic) - Chick-fil-A (company) - Planet Fitness (company) - Applebee's (company) - Empires Weekly (publication) - Patrick Buckley (person) --- Originally reported by Patrick Buckley, Empires Weekly (https://empirespod.substack.com/p/the-best-franchisees-go-deep). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/b59aae11-0d61-4569-9473-aee530e046eb).