You're staring at a full pipeline and want to be intentional about build-out — what should you actually be prepared for?
Katherine LeBlanc and James Vitrano sit down with Charlie Guzzetta, founding partner of Depot and former President & Chief Development Officer of BurgerFi (9 to 135 locations and public on the NASDAQ). Charlie now builds and designs kitchens for some of the hottest restaurant brands around, and he lays out how to scale without blowing your budget or your brand: why you should design a business instead of a restaurant, the three Ps of build-out (pre-planning, prototypes, post-mortem), how a "family of prototypes" keeps you flexible, and where restaurant tech is finally getting affordable for emerging brands.
A practical playbook for any franchisor heading into a growth phase.
About the hosts: Katherine LeBlanc and James Vitrano have a combined 40+ years in franchising — across marketing, operations, legal, and franchise development. Katherine is the founder of Apollo CMO, helping franchise brands grow.
Go deeper:
🌐 apollocmo.com | ▶️ @KatherineLeBlanc_Franchise on YouTube | 🔗 linkedin.com/in/katherineleblanc | 📩
katherine@apollocmo.comWhat is Dear Frannie: Franchise Growth, Leadership and Scaling Advice?
Dear Frannie is the franchise advice column you didn't know you needed. Hosted by Katherine LeBlanc, Fractional CMO, and James Vitrano, Franchise Operator, each episode tackles one real question franchisors are quietly wrestling with - from franchisee adoption and growth friction to leadership blind spots and operational scale.
No panels. No keynote speak. No fluff. Just two people who've been inside franchise systems answering the questions brand leaders are afraid to ask out loud.
If you're a franchisor navigating the messy middle of scale - this show was made for you.
New episodes drop bi-weekly. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one.