Dominators!

Pokémon GO, the hot new augmented reality (AR) game is not just another fad or trending game on the market—it is a cultural phenomenon.

We spoke with three brands, Buffalo Wings & Ring, Moe's Southwest Grill, and Meineke Car Care Centers to see how they are using social media and digital technology for customer engagement and as a local marketing tool for their franchisees.

Choosing the best social media platform or channel to reach your target audience can be challenging, as both the technologies and your customers continue to evolve.

Rob Branca and his extended family of in-laws, siblings, children, and cousins own and operate more than 1,200 Dunkin' Donuts locations throughout New England and a few expansion markets.

For Wanda Sieber, what began as an ordinary phone call became a wake-up call. The person who answered the phone told Sieber that the owner of the business she'd called had died unexpectedly, adding "We don't even know if we're going to have jobs tomorrow."

Unit-level economics (ULE) is the latest fancy phrase for the fundamental concept of franchisee profitability. The old-school franchise concept of caring only about a monthly sales report and a royalty check and, if the franchisee was not profitable, reselling the territory in 18 months is dead.

Let's begin with three facts: 1) 78.2 million Americans are hourly workers; 2) hourly workers represent 58.5 percent of all jobs in the U.S.; and 3) 80 percent of all hires made in the U.S. each year are for hourly jobs.

Multi-unit, multi-brand operators continue growing larger each year--a trend that continues to accelerate as these Dominators expand their portfolios through acquisitions, new units, refranchising offers, and scooping up successful units from retirees