May 24th 2026|Washington, DC

WHEN GREG FLYNN graduated from Stanford Business School in 1994, with the dotcom boom in full swing, his friends chose the obvious career path. But while they “were all making PowerPoint presentations…becoming paper millionaires,” he went off to help a friend open a second restaurant. A few years later, spotting generous financing on offer for would-be franchisees, Mr Flynn bought eight Applebee’s restaurants of his own. He now runs more than 3,000 franchise outlets across seven brands in three countries, and is reportedly worth more than $1bn, probably the first franchisee in the world to reach that milestone. On February 22nd the International Franchise Association, a lobbying group, inducted him into its Hall of Fame—an accolade previously reserved for franchisors, the innovators on the other side of the business who established big chains, such as Ray Kroc of McDonald’s or Colonel Harland Sanders of KFC.

Mr Flynn’s is a tale of slow and steady success. So is that of the franchise model, which began spreading across America in the 1950s. Nowadays there are close to 850,000 franchise establishments in the country, run by around 250,000 owners, employing some 9m people and generating about 3% of GDP. As many as one in six businesses with at least one employee are part of a franchise. All kinds of establishments, from Dunkin’ Donuts to the UPS Store and most Marriott hotels, are franchised. And lately the model has been spreading into new categories—such as boutique fitness, home services and child care—thanks in part to private-equity investors that have become enthusiastic franchisors.

Owning a franchise may be the purest distillation of the American dream. Some 95% of McDonald’s 14,000 American outlets are operated by franchisees, and the chain has plausibly created more millionaires than any firm in history. “We’re not all going to be Steve Jobs or Elon Musk,” says Matt Haller, who runs the IFA, but many can imagine themselves saving up to have a go at the all-American business of “slinging hamburgers”. The proposition has long appealed to immigrants in particular: around two-thirds of American motels are owned by Indians, many descended from Gujaratis who bought Super 8 and Travelodge franchises in the 1980s.

Mr Haller says franchisees now report growing interest from their children in succession plans. That is perhaps unsurprising. A decade ago the path to prosperity for young Americans looked certain: a college education and a white-collar “laptop” job. But rising tuition fees and the emergence of artificial intelligence have prompted renewed interest in the trades and other more pedestrian ways to make a living. In-person businesses—teaching pilates, cooking food—look like a safer bet now. “There’s really not a franchise that you can run without people,” says Mr Haller. Many more young people, then, may soon follow Mr Flynn’s example. Will it pay off for them?

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