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An amended franchise disclosure document shows TGI Fridays has shuttered nine additional restaurants in the United States this year. The closures continue a downsizing trend that began after the casual dining chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late 2024.
Entrepreneur and Cruise Planners are hosting a free webinar on how entrepreneurship can help working mothers balance career and family, moderated by Terry Rice with guests Summer Bowers and Tammy Overcash. The two women co-own the same Cruise Planners franchise but arrived there through different careers: Bowers left teaching after military relocations disrupted her career and grew a travel-focused social media following into a business, while Overcash's path was separately built around her own career and family circumstances.
Microsoft's Xbox division is transferring future Halo game development to Call of Duty publisher Activision, part of a fresh round of 268 layoffs. The move follows Ninja Theory's failed sale talks, with the Hellblade studio now facing a proposed closure after two potential buyers walked away. Xbox says it is three-quarters through a restructuring plan that has already eliminated 1,600 jobs immediately, with 3,600 total cuts planned.
Paramount has announced release dates for follow-up films to its horror titles 'Heart Eyes' and 'Crawl,' signaling plans to turn both into ongoing franchises. The studio is moving to capitalize on the earlier films' success by locking in theatrical slots for the sequels.
Universal Studios Hollywood has launched Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, a new outdoor roller coaster themed around the movie franchise. The ride sends replica muscle cars, including a version of Dom Toretto's 1970 Dodge Charger, spinning along more than 4,000 feet of track at speeds up to 72 mph. A separate version of the attraction is expected to open at Universal's Florida park next year.
Burger King's newest franchise disclosure document shows the chain finished fiscal 2025 with 6,650 U.S. restaurants, down from 6,701 at the start of the year. That net figure of 51 fewer stores masks a larger churn of individual closures and openings happening across the system.
Brian Bailey took a Domino's delivery job in his 20s to pay off student loans and became a store manager within 58 days. He bought his first franchise in Carlsbad, New Mexico, and has since expanded his company, Team Bailey, into the largest Domino's franchise operator in the U.S. with 160 stores across five states after acquiring 45 additional locations in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma in 2025.
Bill Lewis, 58, a former Wall Street broker laid off in 2013, invested his entire $180,000 401(k) into a Nestlé Toll House franchise, believing the established brand would guide him through unfamiliar territory as a first-time business owner. Despite strong initial sales growth, high mall operating costs made the store unprofitable, and after four years he was forced to shut it down. Lewis now works up to 75 hours a week driving for Uber and Lyft in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains to rebuild his finances.
Ken and Sarah Barlow opened a 16 Handles self-serve frozen yogurt franchise in Forest Acres, South Carolina in June 2025 after signing on with the brand in early 2024. The idea stemmed from their daughter wanting to customize her own frozen yogurt, and the couple noticed no such business existed in their town. Within six months of opening, the location generated $1 million in sales.
An Entrepreneur opinion piece argues that most franchise growth plans falter due to weak structure, misaligned leadership and inconsistent execution rather than bad ideas. The author, comparing franchise recruitment to precisely timing a V-8 engine, says franchisors often keep tweaking their candidate-sourcing process without ever achieving a clear sense of success. The piece urges leaders to replace guesswork with standardized, repeatable systems for evaluating franchisee quality.
An Entrepreneur contributor argues that franchise brands often struggle with recruiting new franchisees not because of weak marketing, but because senior leaders fail to stay engaged as 'Executive Sponsors' of the effort. The role involves clearing obstacles, allocating resources, managing risk, and communicating the purpose behind recruitment goals rather than simply delegating the task to a team.
Across decades of reboots, films and animated series, Peter Cullen has consistently returned as the voice of Optimus Prime, providing continuity to the Transformers franchise regardless of who else is involved in a given production. His presence has become a defining thread linking the many different creative visions the property has cycled through.