business
Hosted by Katherine LeBlanc · business · EN · 25 episodes
Conversations with the leaders who are actually building franchising - from the executive suite to the field. Each season explores what success looks like right now, what franchise leaders should be paying attention to, and how the best brands are delivering real returns for their franchisees. Because at the end of the day, franchisee profitability isn't just a metric; it's the whole point.Your host, Katherine LeBlanc, brings 13 years inside franchise systems, having led marketing across six brands spanning food, wellness, beauty, and experience. She's been in the room where these decisions get made. These conversations reflect that: direct, practitioner-level, and built for franchise leaders who don't have time for surface-level takes.
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Contact path
Verified email
Booking probability
30%
Guest openness
Selective
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Signup to Generate a PitchConversations with the leaders who are actually building franchising - from the executive suite to the field. Each season explores what success looks like right now, what franchise leaders should be paying attention to, and how the best brands are delivering real returns for their franchisees.
Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc is hosted by Katherine LeBlanc. The show has published 25 episodes to date.
Recent episodes include "Where Your Lead Funnel Is Breaking (And How to Fix It)" (12 October 2026, 49 minutes), "Why AI May Be Your Secret Weapon in Franchise Development" (5 October 2026, 38 minutes), and "What's Working in Franchise Development Marketing Right Now" (28 September 2026, 36 minutes).
Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc publishes roughly weekly, with episodes averaging 34 minutes across 25 episodes.
Booking probability for Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc is 30%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc's contact route on record: verified email.
The strongest fits for Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc are Holding Companies & Corporate HQs and Business & Management Consulting. Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc has a business audience.
Katherine LeBlanc hosts Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc, a business show with 25 episodes published.
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Episode #10
Lead conversion is the conversation franchise marketing leaders said they were prioritizing heading into this year, and for good reason. In this episode, Katherine LeBlanc sits down with Dave Hansen, CEO of...
Episode #9
Doug DeLor of Spherion Staffing and Recruiting and Patrick Conley of Fran Focus join Katherine to map out where AI belongs in the franchise development funnel heading into 2027 — and where it should never go. The one...
Episode #8
Ziebart's Chief Growth Officer Larisa Walega and Franchise Assembly co-founder Liane Caruso join Katherine LeBlanc for a direct conversation about what's actually working in franchise development marketing right now...
Episode #11
Brandon Rhoten has been in restaurant marketing for nearly twenty years — CMO at Papa John's, CMO at Potbelly, and the architect of the digital program that put Wendy's back on the cultural map. In this episode, he and...
Episode #7
Kim Gouch (Retro Fitness) and Will Fraker (The Good Feed Store) join the conversation to talk about what AI is actually doing inside franchise marketing right now — not the buzzword version, but the real decisions their...
Episode #5
Local store marketing is one of the most talked-about and least-solved challenges in franchising — and Laura Peever and Marci Kleinsasser are two people who've actually done the work. This episode covers what breaks...
Episode #6
Google and Meta efficiencies keep declining, and most franchise marketers don't have a real plan for what fills the gap. Chris McGee (Batteries Plus) and Karen Wenning (Suttle Strauss) join Katherine to debate connected...
Episode #4
Digital media costs are up, attribution is murkier, and the default answer — more search, more paid social — isn't working the way it used to. Alex Preddie from Rocket Barn and Christy Johnson (CMO) and Madison Belfour...
Episode #3
Aren Johnstone (Franchise Ramp) and Dan Wheeler (CMO, K9 Resorts) join Katherine for a direct conversation about what franchise marketers are actually measuring and whether it's doing anything useful. This episode...
Episode #2
PR, email, and social — and what's actually worth your budget going into 2027. Katherine LeBlanc sits down with Ashley Mitchell of East Coast Wings and Girl and Zack Fishman of Fishman PR for a peer conversation on...
Episode #1
Brand fund budgeting is where franchise marketing strategy gets real — fixed dollars, franchisee expectations, and a landscape that keeps changing underneath you. In this episode Katherine LeBlanc talks with Adam...
Episode #14
<p>Kim Gubera, President & CEO of PIRTEK, stepped into her role in 2019 and did something almost no leader does — she visited every single franchisee before changing anything. In this conversation, she shares how that...
Episode #13
<p>Steven and Jason Parker have been in the pet care industry since 1999 and franchising K9 Resorts since 2011. In this conversation, they walk Katherine through the disciplined, long-view philosophy that's gotten them...
Episode #11
<p>Josh Lyon has been building ScentHound as their COO from seven units to 157 - and he's not slowing down. In this conversation, he gets into what it actually takes to scale a franchise brand with operational...
Episode #11
<p>Doug Flaig, CEO of Stratus Clean, is in the middle of one of the harder things a franchise leader can navigate - a full brand transformation - and he's doing it with a three-tier franchisee network watching every...
Episode #10
<p>Alex and Myriam Guerrero didn't plan on becoming franchise owners — Alex stumbled into it at a USO transition event when a franchise broker showed up and offered a presentation. Four years later, they're running a...
Episode #9
<p>Alex Pericchi has spent 12 years as VP of Marketing at PuroClean watching what actually drives franchisee adoption — and what quietly kills it. His answer this year is radical simplification: fewer activities...
Episode #8
<p>Jon Sica, President of Batteries Plus, joins Katherine LeBlanc at IFA 2026 for one of the most practical episodes of Franchise Leader Spotlight yet. Jon breaks down why the brand standards conversation lands...
Episode #7
<p>Kathy George, President of Spherion Staffing and Recruiting, joins Katherine LeBlanc at IFA to talk about the leadership framework that helped an 80-year-old staffing franchise outpace its competitors and its parent...
Episode #6
<p>Jennifer Durham has scaled franchise brands across restaurants, hospitality, and wellness - from Checkers & Rally's to Cooper's Hawk, Hand & Stone, and now Potbelly, where she's leading the brand's push from 467...
Recent guests on Franchise Spotlight with Katherine LeBlanc. Study who booked and why before you pitch.
Stroke Survivor & Chair of the Stroke Association UK, Performance Painting Contractors
Co-Founder & Head Brewer, Profitable Dentist Media, LLC
Director of the East Lansing Public Library, President-Elect for ALA Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures, Grace Presbyterian Church
President & CEO, Go Mini's Franchising LLC
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