FRANCHISEES OF THE MONTH: Linh Tran + Dan White, Break Coffee Co., Nashville, TN

Nashville‑based entrepreneurs Linh Tran and Dan White came into business ownership with established professional careers and different, but complementary, experiences. By Jessica Petrucelli

Nashville‑based entrepreneurs Linh Tran and Dan White came into business ownership with established professional careers and different, but complementary, experiences.

“My background has been in engineering, operations and business leadership. I’ve spent much of my career working in complex global organizations, leading teams, managing relationships and focusing on operational and financial performance,” explained Tran. “Dan is a U.S. Navy veteran, and that experience has had a significant impact on how he approaches leadership – being accountable, staying resilient and taking care of the people around you.”

With those experiences in mind, franchising was a natural fit when the couple decided to build a business.

“Starting from scratch meant developing the product, operating model, supplier relationships, branding, systems and processes ourselves,” Tran said. “Franchising gave us the opportunity to be entrepreneurs while starting with a framework that had already been developed and tested.”

They saw a strong fit in Break Coffee Co., a premium workplace coffee subscription service with little overhead and a recurring revenue stream.

“There wasn’t a large storefront to build, a big staff to hire or the fixed costs associated with traditional food and beverage franchises,” Tran said. “Instead, we could focus on developing relationships with local businesses, placing machines in the right locations and building recurring revenue over time.”

The couple was drawn to Break Coffee Co.’s simplicity and scalability, too.

“We liked that we could start relatively lean and grow one customer and machine at a time,” she said. “We also liked the B2B aspect of the business. Building long-term relationships with customers is something we’re both comfortable with, and we enjoy being able to walk into a business, understand what they need and offer them a solution.”

Most importantly, Tran said, the model fits their lives.

“It gives us the ability to build something meaningful without requiring us to be inside a retail location seven days a week,” she said.

That alignment is why Tran recommends choosing a franchise that fits. “For us, Break Coffee made sense because it combines relationship-building, operations, recurring revenue and the ability to scale while allowing us to maintain our careers and prioritize our family.”