Notes

“Modern franchising isn’t about more support—it’s about smarter, scalable support.”

Jenna Henderson has spent nearly two decades inside franchise systems, operating across field ops, brand services, development, growth, and tech. After almost 15 years at Saladworks, she stepped into SaaS as COO at WorkMerk (helping build the ServSafe Ops platform), then returned to franchising leadership as Group Chief Operating Officer for NewSpring Franchise. Today, she oversees operations, marketing, and supply chain across Great Harvest Bakery Cafe, Duck Donuts, and Federal Donuts & Chicken.

In this episode, Jenna joins Rachael Nemeth (Opus CEO) to break down what the modern franchisor must look like: agile, cross-functional, and intentional about franchisee support. She explains why “one size fits all” fails, how segmenting single-unit vs multi-unit operators changes outcomes, and why operations must help approve franchisees—because ops lives with what happens after the check clears.

Jenna also shares the structural fix that instantly improves alignment between development and ops: an onboarding specialist connecting signing through opening day. She unpacks where franchisors still operate too manually, how tech and AI only matter when insights become action, and what private equity brings when done right: discipline, a clear North Star, and shared infrastructure.

Key Takeaways

  • Smarter Support Scales: Modern franchising isn’t about more touchpoints—it’s about systems that scale support intelligently.
  • One Size Fits None: Franchisee support must be segmented by operator type and brand maturity.
  • Ops Belongs Upstream: Operations should help approve franchisees, not just manage post-sale fallout.
  • Onboarding Drives Alignment: A dedicated onboarding specialist linking signing → opening improves execution.
  • Tech Must Be Actionable: AI only matters when insights drive real behavior change at the unit level.
  • Discipline Beats Sprawl: Clear ROI, a North Star, and shared infrastructure outperform tool overload.

Perfect For

Franchisors building scalable support models, operators navigating growth, PE-backed leadership teams, and brand executives reducing tech sprawl.

About Jenna Henderson

Group Chief Operating Officer at NewSpring Franchise, overseeing operations, marketing, and supply chain across Great Harvest Bakery Cafe, Duck Donuts, and Federal Donuts & Chicken.

Time Stamp Chapters

  • 00:00 Intro + Jenna’s role
  • 02:06 The modern franchisor
  • 06:16 Development vs operations
  • 09:26 The onboarding specialist
  • 11:10 Tech debt, AI, and action
  • 16:32 PE-backed discipline
  • 21:34 Lessons from Saladworks
  • 33:13 Lightning round

About Us

Opus is the hospitality training platform purpose-built for the frontline. Train 100% of your team in 101 languages on the job to quickly get them up the productivity curve. With full visibility across your workforce, you get the frontline business intelligence needed to drive your business.

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