Franchise GPS with Chicago Sam

In this episode of Chicago Sam's Franchise GPS, host Sam Stanovich sits down with Andy Freivogel, Co-Founder of Science On Call, to dive deep into solving the restaurant industry's most frustrating technology headaches. Coming straight from the hospitality trenches—from barista and fry cook to IT director—Andy breaks down how multi-unit operators and franchisees can streamline bloated tech stacks, eliminate operational friction, and protect top-line revenue. From safeguard measures like $50 bac

In this episode of Chicago Sam's Franchise GPS, guest host Justin Egan (VP of Growth Marketing, Craveworthy Brands and Co-Founder, Wing It On!) is joined by Matt Ensero, Co-Founder & President of Wing It On!, and Robert Riddle, Regional Vice President of Operations for Fresh Brothers. Together, they break down Craveworthy Brands’ powerful co-branding strategy—bringing America’s award-winning wings and Southern California’s premier pizza under one roof. From kitchen workflow optimizations and sh

In this episode of Chicago Sam's Franchise GPS, guest host Justin Egan sits down with Alexis Gillette, Vice President of Marketing at Craveworthy Brands, to deliver a tactical masterclass on local store marketing, grand opening strategies, and unit-level restaurant growth. Alexis leverages over 22 years of experience across retail, experience-based businesses, and major restaurant brands like Raising Cane's to break down why so many first-time operators struggle with customer acquisition—and ho

"Chicago Sam" Stanovich sits down with Donovan McAdams, President of Vendita Digital, to deliver a tactical, unfiltered masterclass on modern franchise go-to-market (GTM) strategies, local store marketing, and customer acquisition. Donovan leverages over ten years of commercial construction experience and digital strategy expertise to break down why so many franchise operators plateau—and how to build a scalable, repeatable marketing engine that converts digital scrollers into loyal, repeat cus

"Chicago Sam" Stanovich sits down with Brandy McAdams, Chief Revenue Officer at Vendita AII, for an in-depth masterclass on navigating commercial real estate, site selection, and lease negotiations for franchise operators. Commercial leases are a 5-to-10-year commitment—akin to a business marriage. Brandy reveals how modern franchise brands are abandoning manual site tours in favor of AI-powered market mapping and data analytics. Whether you are a first-time franchisee or scaling a multi-unit p

Are you blindly trusting ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude to map out your next franchise location? In this episode of Franchise GPS, host "Chicago Sam" Stanovich sits down with Doug Sullinger, tech veteran and founder of Vendita AI, to break down why open-source AI tools are actually costing you time, money, and valuable real estate deals. Doug pulls back the curtain on how open models are only about 60% accurate and discusses the absolute danger of "garbage in, garbage out" data. Together, Sam and D