Selling the system rather than the product: royalty streams, brand control, and the recurring conflict between franchisor and franchisee. Love's history is the one indispensable book; most of the rest is how-to.
McDonald's to the mid-1980s, from the brothers' stand to Kroc's franchise system.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
A milkshake-machine salesman finds the McDonald brothers and builds the franchise.
Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai
Small firms fail when technicians run them; build systems that run the business.
Recommended by: Alex Lieberman, Ali Abdaal, Andrew Wilkinson and 6 others
How McDonald's and fast-food franchising became bound up with Black America.
How to turn an existing business into a franchise system.
Buyer's-side guide to picking and vetting a franchise.