UFG added 105 locations and 10 new international master franchise agreements in six months, pushing brands like Transworld Business Advisors deeper into Europe and Asia.
United Franchise Group closed the first half of 2026 with 148 new franchise agreements and 105 locations opened, but the more telling number is the 10 international master franchise deals signed across five of its brands. West Palm Beach-based UFG is treating international master licensing as its primary growth lever this year, not domestic unit count alone.
Exit Factor, UFG's business exit-planning brand, picked up new master territories in the Czech Republic, Ireland and Japan. Transworld Business Advisors, its business brokerage concept, expanded into Canada's Maritime provinces, Portugal and Spain, while Signarama added Germany and Graze Craze moved into England and Guyana.
A master franchise agreement hands one operator the rights to develop and sub-franchise an entire country or region, shifting recruitment and buildout risk onto a local partner who already understands that market's regulations and real estate. For UFG, it's a faster way to plant a flag in 15 countries than building out company-owned or single-unit deals market by market.
A widening international footprint gives UFG's domestic training infrastructure, Discovery Days and mentorship programs a bigger stage to prove out, which the company points to directly as the driver of its growth. For franchisees evaluating brands like Transworld or Exit Factor, that international expansion also signals balance-sheet health and long-term investment behind the system.
PuroCleanPuroClean is actively recruiting multi-unit QSR and hospitality operators into its restoration franchise, betting operational discipline transfers better than industry experience.
Franchise TimesCR Fitness, a 98-unit Crunch Fitness franchisee, signed a development deal for 25 Yoga Joint studios after running out of white space for its core brand.
GoTo FoodsGoTo Foods named a new Jamba president and expanded three other executives' remits in one announcement, restructuring leadership across Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon and Moe's.
RISMediaNextHome launched a large-office franchise model and joined the AGNT family of companies, betting that real estate brokerages need more than one path to scale.
Franchising.comA year after acquiring A Place At Home, global home care franchisor Dovida installed Mike Boyer as CEO of its first North American market, betting on operational discipline over reinvention.
Revscale Media (illustration)The Unleashed Brands concept opened its first franchised location in Texas, kicking off a 54-unit pipeline spanning 16 states.
