Tim Gannon joined Outback at 40, $400,000 in debt and holding $37. Today he’s the creator of the Bloomin’ Onion, the No. 1 casual-dining appetizer for 37 years. In this episode, the Outback Steakhouse Co-Founder shares the leadership lessons behind an iconic brand.

It started with the worst ice cream truck experience a parent could imagine. Today, Tony Lamb’s Kona Ice is the largest food truck business in the U.S., with 2,200 franchises in all 50 states and over $350 million in sales. In this episode, he shares the decisions that got it there.

Steele Smiley spent 15 years building a fitness empire with 900+ U.S. franchisees. After a noncompete locked him out of that industry, he founded CRISP & GREEN anyway – despite experts telling him it wouldn’t work. Today it’s a 53-location healthy fast casual brand, and he’s been called the modern-day Ray Kroc of the category.

The people who get you to three stores are not the people who get you to 50. Lauren Coulter, co-founder of Biscuit Belly, shares the hiring mistakes, hard calls, and intentional planning behind growing a national brunch brand.

Brandon and Chantel spent 20 years building 32 Wingstop franchises. Then they let it all go to bet on themselves, opening the first Urban Bird Hot Chicken in a space another restaurant left behind. In this episode, they share how a bad lease turned into spectacular growth.

“We grow deliberately.” That’s the philosophy behind Toastique’s rise from a single Washington, D.C. café to a national franchise. In this episode, Founder Brianna Keefe shares why staying selective about franchise partners protected the brand as it scaled.

Your biggest success can hide your biggest opportunity. Tony Gemignani built Tony’s Pizza Napoletana into a legend, then spotted an underserved need next door — and it became Slice House. In this episode, he shares the decisions behind letting go to grow.

Jae Kim had a deal in hand on Shark Tank — and walked away. Learn how the Chi’Lantro Founder is scaling his Korean-Mexican food brand on his own terms, one bold decision at a time.

Two childhood friends bought a pizzeria at 21. Now they run nine restaurants and are scaling Best Pizza & Brew toward 35 locations — by learning to stop being the answer to every question.