Franchise News Weekly The Week That Reminded Everyone Why Due Diligence Is Not Optional The franchise industry in the final week of September 2026 is producing exactly the mix it always produces: real opportunity and real risk, often in the same news cycle. By Will Huffhine • 5 min read
Franchise News Weekly A 314-Restaurant Bankruptcy, a White House Announcement, and the Clearest Week of Franchise Signals We've Seen in Months. The category you invest in matters as much as the brand you choose. The operators who build durable equity tend to be in categories where the cost structure leaves room to breathe. By Will Huffhine • 6 min read
Franchise News Weekly Forty-Seven Restaurants Closed This Week. Here's What Opened Instead. This week produced two signals that are impossible to ignore, and they point in opposite directions. One is a story about what happens when the wrong business model meets unsustainable debt. The other is a story about where the real opportunity is being built right now. By Will Huffhine • 6 min read
Franchise News Weekly New Brands, Expanding Categories, and a $143 Million Signal About the Future of Fast Casual The franchise industry is not a monolith moving in one direction. It is a collection of thousands of individual stories, each at a different stage, in a different category, at a different point in the opportunity curve. By Will Huffhine • 6 min read
Franchise News Weekly A Matter of Timing and Missed Opportunities The brands generating the most meaningful activity are moving into new markets, new customer segments, and new territory right now, and the window to be the first into those markets is open today in a way it will not be six months from now. By Will Huffhine • 6 min read
Franchise News Weekly Chicken Wing Brand Gets New Owners and a Chicken Finger Concept Signs 60 Restaurants While one well-known fast casual brand's franchisee continues to unravel in bankruptcy court, two completely different concepts are signing multi-state development deals and moving aggressively into new markets. By Will Huffhine • 5 min read
Franchise News Weekly The Franchise Owners Who Are Winning Right Now All Made the Same Kind of Decision August 10, 2026 Three weeks in a row now, I've been watching the franchise development wire closely and writing about what it's telling us. The pattern keeps sharpening. And this week, what I see most clearly isn't a category trend or a financing story. By Will Huffhine • 6 min read
Franchise News Weekly The Fastest Growing Franchise Categories Right Now All Have One Thing in Common August 3, 2026 Last week I wrote about the great franchise divide: the brands that are collapsing under debt versus the brands that are growing faster than they can award territories. This week I want to go deeper into the growth side, because according to research from Quantum Franchise Group, By Will Huffhine • 6 min read
Franchise News Weekly Why Some Franchises Are Collapsing While Others Are Growing Faster Than Ever July 27, 2026 According to Quantum Franchise Group something significant is happening inside the franchise industry right now, and it deserves a clear-eyed explanation for anyone who is considering business ownership. The news cycle has been full of dramatic franchise headlines this week, and if you're reading By Will Huffhine • 7 min read
