Cradle to grave in the best sense of the word. In this conversation, Sean McKay digs in with Gary Occhiogrosso on development, sales, infrastructure, and money. Private equity once “didn’t understand the beast,” but today it’s about royalty revenue, happy franchisees, and an EBITDA line that keeps growing. Gary explains why founders tied to grandma’s recipe still face the same reality, why it’s always better to sell royalty income than operational income, and why some restaurateurs should stop opening restaurants. The story runs from sleeping on a bag of flour as a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee to franchise advisory councils, multi-unit growth, simplicity of operation, validation, and the mindset to cross the bridge. Go big or go home.

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Guest Bio

Gary Occhiogrosso is the founder of Franchise Growth Solutions, a contributor for Forbes, an adjunct professor at NYU, and a podcast host. He started in the radio business in New York doing voiceovers, became a Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee, and later served as president of a multi-brand franchisor called True Foods. His path spans franchise development, sales, private equity conversations, and leading brands with a focus on systems, people, and results.

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What We Cover

• Development, sales, infrastructure, and money as four silos for franchisors
• Why today’s private equity focuses on royalty revenue, unit growth, and happy franchisees
• The case for franchising: royalty-driven EBITDA vs. company-ops EBITDA multiples
• “Stop opening restaurants” when scale requires simplicity of operation and no CapEx on units
• Lessons from Dunkin’ Donuts: advisory councils, protecting good franchisees from bad franchisees
• E-Myth thinking: the people run the system, the system runs the business
• Common missteps: ego, unproven unit economics, and trying to fund growth from the franchise fee
• Validation as a critical selling tool and the hard jump from one to two units
• Multi-unit, multi-brand franchisees: cost of entry, simplicity, and room to grow
• “Knowledge is not power. The execution of knowledge is power.”

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Resources Mentioned

• Franchise Growth Solutions: https://franchisegrowthsolutions.com/
• Gary Occhiogrosso on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-occhiogrosso/
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber (book)