This week at Acceler8Success Café begins with a question for founders preparing to award their first franchise or their next. What would you want to know before putting your own money into the business?

A week from today, emerging franchisors will gather in Nashville for the 2026 Emerging Franchisor Conference, hosted by the International Franchise Association (IFA). The conference takes place November 16–18 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Nashville Downtown. In the days leading up to it, I’d like to spend some time here at Acceler8Success Café on the questions founders are bringing with them and the ones they may still be trying to put into words.

Maybe you own a business and someone has just asked if they can buy a franchise. Maybe you’ve awarded your first few franchises and discovered how much happens between signing an agreement and opening the doors. Or maybe you’ve been franchising for a few years and find yourself looking at the growth plan you wrote at the outset, wondering why the numbers on the page look so different from the business you’re leading today.

Whether you’re heading to Nashville or staying close to home, here’s where I’d start. If you could sit down over coffee with a founder who has already worked through the challenge you’re facing, what would you ask?

When Someone Asks, “Can I Buy a Franchise?”

It’s quite a compliment when a customer wants to open a business just like yours. Imagine a longtime regular at your restaurant saying, “My neighborhood needs a place like this. If you ever decide to franchise, call me.” You know the person. You know the neighborhood. You can already picture the second location.

Before you make that call, think about last Friday night. When two employees called out, who rearranged the shifts? When a catering order came in during the dinner rush, who knew how much the kitchen could handle? When a longtime customer had a complaint, did the manager resolve it, or did everyone look for you?

Now consider that same Friday evening from the prospective franchisee’s side. They’ll be paying today’s rent. They may need to hire a manager to cover the hours you routinely work. They’ll owe royalties and may have a loan payment due whether Friday is busy or slow. They’ll also have to earn the neighborhood relationships you’ve spent years building.

That’s where I’d begin a feasibility conversation. Could another owner deliver the experience your customers love, pay the people it takes to run the business, draw a reasonable income, and earn a return that makes the investment worthwhile? Which assumptions can you support with operating experience? Which ones do you still need to test?

Once You’ve Awarded Franchises, the Question Changes

Your first franchisees can tell you things you couldn’t have known when you wrote the original plan. They know which parts of training prepared them for opening day, which expenses surprised them, and how long it took before they felt comfortable drawing a paycheck. Give them room to tell you.

One question I’d ask is, “What did you have to figure out on your own that you expected us to help you with?”

Suppose an owner tells you that training prepared her to make the product and serve the customer, but six weeks after opening she still couldn’t build a labor schedule that made sense for her sales. Sit down with her and review a few weeks of schedules alongside actual sales by shift. Find out whether other owners struggled with the same thing. What you learn can help her with next week’s schedule and give you a specific skill to teach the next franchisee before opening.

For a brand approaching 50 locations, I’d ask one more question. Does that kind of feedback still reach someone who can act on it? When the founder knew every franchisee personally, a phone call might have been enough. Today, could you trace the last concern an owner raised, see who took responsibility for it, and find out whether anyone called the owner back?

When Growth Falls Short of the Plan

Let’s say you expected to have 20 locations open by now and you have six. Put that number on the table at a leadership meeting and someone is likely to suggest generating more leads. Before committing money, I’d want to know how you arrived at the original projection and where actual experience began to diverge from it.

Did too few qualified candidates enter the process? Did several promising candidates withdraw after talking with existing franchisees? Are signed franchisees spending months looking for sites at rents their businesses can support? Any one of those situations could leave you with six open locations. Each calls for a different decision.

I’d start by looking closely at two people, a candidate who withdrew and a franchisee who signed but has yet to open. Walk through what happened with each. What did the candidate say when they stepped away? When did someone last speak with the signed owner about the site search? Does that owner know what help to expect from you this week?

Those conversations can bring a growth discussion down to a decision you can actually make. You might need to change whom you recruit. You might need to revisit your site criteria. Or you may discover that an existing franchisee raised a concern months ago that’s now surfacing in conversations with candidates.

Final Thoughts

Before awarding your first franchise—or your next one—consider what you’d want to know if you were the person signing the agreement. What will it cost me to get the doors open? Can I earn a living at the sales volume this location can reasonably support? Who will I be able to call when something happens that training didn’t cover?

If you’re preparing to franchise, pick the question you’d have the hardest time answering and spend some time on it this week. If you’re already franchising, invite one of your owners to tell you, “Here’s what I wish we’d both understood before I opened.” The answer may point to something you can do for that owner today and something you’ll want to change before awarding another franchise.

Whether you’re attending the 2026 Emerging Franchisor Conference in Nashville or following the conversation from home, I’d welcome a discussion about what you’re working through. Maybe you’re weighing your first award, helping a franchisee get the doors open, or trying to understand why growth has slowed. What’s the one question you’d put on the table if we were sitting down over coffee?

DM me or email me at Paul@Acceler8Success.com.