Every month, we highlight emerging concepts and business models offering interesting lessons for franchise growth. Smalls Sliders | QSR: A focused menu of sliders, fries and shakes.Why it matters: Simpler menus can mean better throughput, lower operating complexity and greater consistency. PickleRage | Recreation: Indoor pickleball facilities built around memberships,
Businesses are investing in artificial intelligence at an accelerating pace. But is that investment actually improving profitability? Across food and beverage manufacturing, consumer products, restaurants, and franchise systems, AI is becoming an increasingly central part of the strategic conversation. From demand forecasting and inventory management to marketing, customer insights, and
We’re seeing encouraging signs in franchise development. Our own franchise sales team at StratonHunter Group is experiencing an uptick in inquiries, consistent with broader industry research suggesting renewed interest in franchise ownership. Recent research highlighted by the Canadian Franchise Association reported: 27% increase in franchise advertising engagement. 167% increase in
Earlier this month, our team attended Where Franchise Meets the Money in Toronto, bringing together franchise executives, investors and private equity firms. Our M&A leader, Lubo, hosted a roundtable discussion focused on franchise investment and growth opportunities. The event reinforced several important themes shaping the investment landscape. Quality of earnings
We’re entering a more interesting phase of artificial intelligence. The conversation is shifting from what AI can do to what it can actually improve. Three developments caught my attention. Toast has introduced AI-supported labour management to improve scheduling and productivity. Batteries Plus is deploying AI to manage customer inquiries, missed
One of the biggest opportunities I see across franchise systems is better consumer segmentation. Too many brands still organize marketing around broad demographics. Families. Millennials. Young professionals. That doesn’t tell us why people buy. Consider two families with similar incomes. One prioritizes convenience. The other prioritizes value. They may purchase
Rising gasoline prices, persistent household costs and economic uncertainty are changing how Canadians spend. September inflation reached 3.1%, driven partly by higher gasoline prices. Yet retail spending remains resilient. Here’s what I find interesting. NielsenIQ research shows Canadian consumers are spending more on consumer goods but purchasing fewer units. Meanwhile:
AI adoption is accelerating quickly. But there is a growing difference between using AI and actually building it into the business.In Canada, the percentage of businesses using AI to produce goods or deliver services has roughly tripled in two years, rising from 6.1% in 2024 to 12.2% in 2025 and
I ask business owners a question that usually changes the conversation: If you were buying your own company today, what would worry you? An owner sees history—the customers won, the stores opened, the problems survived. A buyer sees a stream of future cash flows and immediately asks what could interrupt
Here’s a question I think more CEOs should ask: What if some of your growth is actually making your company less profitable? We tend to assume more is better: more customers, SKUs, menu items, channels, and customization. But every addition adds a layer of operational cost that rarely sits beside
We may be thinking about beverages the wrong way. For decades, the beverage was usually attached to something else (coffee with breakfast, soda with lunch). But increasingly, the beverage is becoming the occasion itself. More than two-thirds of consumers now say they sometimes consume a beverage as a snack. Protein
For years, the food industry has been built around a fairly simple growth equation: sell more, larger portions, more items, more add-ons.GLP-1 medications are beginning to challenge that equation. The bigger issue isn’t simply that people taking these medications eat less—it’s that when appetite declines, every bite has to work
A restaurant meal doesn’t really compete with a grocery meal on price. It can’t.Circana recently calculated the average U.S. at-home dinner at approximately $3.78 per person. A restaurant can’t manufacture, staff, occupy, serve and deliver an experience at anything close to that price. So why do consumers regularly pay $15,
For the last few years, we’ve heard the same story: consumers are under pressure, prices are too high and everyone is looking for value. I think we’re missing the more important part. Consumers aren’t simply spending less. They’re becoming much more selective about what they’re willing to pay for. Heading
In a notable development within the quick-service restaurant (QSR) sector, Wendy’s new CEO stirred industry conversations by announcing its exploration of a “surge menu” pricing strategy. The unveiling of this initiative by the company’s newly appointed CEO drew considerable attention from media and consumers, sparking discussions about the potential implications
By Robert Carter, Managing Partner, The StratonHunter Group In this month’s blog, we’re going to chat about the opportunities and challenges associated with the franchise model. As any restaurant owner can attest, this model fundamentally changes the way a business operates and grows. Unlike industries where operations are generally centralized,
By Robert Carter, Managing Director, The StratonHunter Group As the Canadian restaurant industry attempts to recalibrate in the aftermath of the pandemic, another major challenge has reared its ugly head: inflation. The restaurant industry is both innovative and resilient, but the threats we have faced over the last 3+ years
