One of the most practical and honest conversations at the 2026 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference was found in the growth workshop, “Getting Out of the ‘Hell Zone.’” The title clearly struck a nerve with the audience, because for many franchisees, the “Hell Zone” is one of the hardest phases of growth: that stretch where you are too big to run everything yourself, but not yet big enough to afford all the infrastructure you know you need.

This session was moderated by Lauren Johnson, a multi-unit franchisee of UPS Store and Smoothie King, and featured the panelists, Bryce Bares, a multi-unit franchisee of Smoothie King, Cesar Coronado, a multi-unit franchisee of Tropical Smoothie Café, and Charles Keyser, a multi-unit franchisee with Sport Clips, Oxi-Fresh Carpet Cleaning, and Waxing the City.

For operators growing from three to 10 units, this stage can feel like constant firefighting. The panel made clear that the challenge is not simply about adding stores. It is about building the people systems, management structure, and operating discipline that allow growth to continue without breaking the business—or the owner.

What made the discussion so valuable was the candor of the panelists. None suggested they had scaled perfectly. In fact, many of the strongest lessons came from mistakes, delays, and hard-earned realizations. Across brands and operating models, several clear themes emerged.

The real constraint is usually not capital. It is people and leadership.

When the panelists reflected on what actually held them back in the “Hell Zone,” the answer kept coming back to the same place: leadership. One panelist said the first real focus in getting out of that stage was “taking a look at who you’re hiring, how you’re coaching people, how you’re incentivizing people.” Another tied nearly every other problem back to that same root cause, saying that “the lack of leadership is what created” many of the other issues operators experience, from cash flow strain to operational inconsistency.

That is an important reframing for growth-minded franchisees. It is easy to believe the biggest barrier is money, or time, or the next lease, or the next loan. But the panel’s experience suggested otherwise. If the right people are not in the right roles, and if leaders are not setting standards and building accountability, then every other problem gets worse.

The panelists also emphasized that many operators wait too long to make the key hire that helps them step out of day-to-day chaos. One shared that bringing in a district manager raised G&A costs in the short term, but it also allowed him to step back from daily firefighting and focus on building the systems that eventually helped grow from seven to 17 locations. The message was clear: the right hire may feel expensive, but not making that hire can be far more costly.

Strong systems do not start with fancy tools. They start with consistency.

The conversation repeatedly came back to a deceptively simple idea: consistency is the foundation of scale. For one operator, that started with orientation and scheduling. He described orientation as a defining moment to set expectations, answer questions, and establish standards from day one. When that process improved, he saw employees perform better much earlier.

From there, the panel drilled into scheduling—not as an administrative task, but as a core operating system. Standardized manager schedules, food order timing, interview timing, and posting deadlines were all described as ways to create cadence in the business. One operator noted that when employees know what to expect every week, the work environment becomes calmer, turnover drops, and performance improves. In his words, “creating a consistent environment” was one of the biggest reasons turnover stayed low.

That consistency also makes KPIs more useful. If schedules, manager days off, and ordering rhythms are standardized, trends become easier to spot and coach. A poor labor number or a recurring problem on certain days is no longer just random noise; it becomes a clue. That allows leaders to diagnose issues faster and coach managers more effectively.

The panel made another important point here: technology can help, but it is not a substitute for discipline. Scheduling tools, dashboards, and software platforms are only useful if people actually use them with intention. One panelist warned that these tools are expensive not just in dollars, but in human effort. Implementation, training, and follow-through matter more than the software itself. In fact, one operator said some of their most useful tools were simple Excel-based systems built internally to teach managers how to think through inventory, labor, and the drivers of the P&L.

Diagnose root problems, not symptoms.

One of the strongest practical themes of the session was the difference between symptoms and root causes. The panelists argued that many operators waste time reacting to surface-level problems instead of solving the underlying issue.

One example was employee call-offs. A chronic call-in problem may look like an attendance issue, but the panel framed it as a leadership issue. If employees do not feel accountable to their team, if expectations were not set clearly, or if managers tolerate weak standards, then the symptom shows up as absenteeism. As one panelist put it, “You get what you tolerate.”

Another example involved policy drift. When leaders start making exceptions to solve immediate pain—relaxing standards because they are desperate for coverage, for example—they may relieve the symptom for a day, but they worsen the root problem over time. The lesson was that operators need to build the habit of asking: Is this the actual issue, or just the visible expression of a deeper issue in leadership, training, or culture?

That ability to diagnose correctly becomes even more important in periods of rapid growth, where distractions multiply and bad habits can spread quickly.

Letting go is not a feeling. It is a decision.

The emotional side of scaling was another major theme. Several panelists spoke candidly about how exhausting the “Hell Zone” can be, especially for founders who know every part of the business and are used to doing everything themselves. One described that phase as having “no freedom at that stage in my life.” Another noted that entrepreneurs often believe no one will care as much as they do, which makes delegation and trust especially difficult.

The panel’s advice here was sharp and memorable: “To make that next move, to feel like you’re ready, is not a feeling—it’s a decision.”

That insight applies to hiring, restructuring, delegation, and even expansion. Most operators never feel fully ready to hire the next leader, put in the next layer of management, or let go of responsibilities they have personally carried. But waiting until it feels comfortable usually means waiting too long.

The panelists also challenged owners to reconsider what only they can do. If someone else can do a task at 80 percent of the owner’s level, one panelist said, he would still outsource it. The point is not perfection. It is freeing the owner to work on the business rather than remaining trapped inside it.

Culture must be built intentionally—and rebuilt as you scale.

Another major takeaway was that culture does not scale automatically. It must be reinforced, clarified, and in some cases rebuilt as the company grows.

One panelist described business as an “infinite game,” where the organization is constantly being rebuilt through new systems, new hires, and new challenges. That requires leaders to be intentional not just about performance, but about behaviors and standards. Another shared that his team created internal advisory structures to get input from multiple levels of the organization before making system-wide changes, ensuring that decisions made at the top would actually work on the ground.

The conversation also addressed the hard issue of high performers who are not cultural fits. The panel’s view was straightforward: culture matters too much to compromise. Skills can be trained, but misalignment on values and behavior eventually damages the organization.

This theme came up again in unit acquisitions. Operators who had acquired units stressed the importance of first understanding why the previous team operated as it did, then clearly communicating new expectations, values, and goals. In some cases, they adopted good ideas from acquired teams. In others, they moved quickly to reset standards. Either way, successful integration required clarity and consistency.

Growth should be a catalyst, not a distraction.

One of the sharpest observations from the session was that growth itself can either energize the company or destabilize it. New units are exciting, but they can also pull leadership attention away from core operations. If all senior attention goes into opening the next store, the existing stores often suffer.

The panel urged operators to make sure they have the leadership bench, systems, and backfill in place before pushing growth too hard. Otherwise, expansion creates a bigger, more fragile business rather than a stronger one.

For franchisees in the audience, the overall message was both encouraging and challenging. The “Hell Zone” is real, but it is not permanent. Operators can get through it—but not by simply working harder. They get through it by building leaders, standardizing key systems, creating accountability, and making intentional decisions before they feel fully ready.

The workshop offered no silver bullet. Instead, it provided something more useful: a realistic blueprint for turning chaos into structure and growth into a more sustainable path forward.

Search