Meet the Anti-Consultants
Built by franchise operators, not franchise theorists.
Most franchise consultants have never built and scaled the thing they are telling you how to build.
Our team has.
FGL brings together franchise operators, sales builders, support leaders, growth strategists, and system architects who have lived the work from the inside.
We have built, sold, onboarded, coached, supported, and scaled franchise systems across multiple stages of growth.
9-figure
exit
225+
units scaled
100+
franchisors supported
1,000+
franchisees onboarded
This is not theory. This is lived franchise operating experience.
John DeHart
Chief Strategist
John is not a franchise theorist. He is a founder and franchise builder.
He spent more than a decade inside the machine — building, operating, scaling, and exiting a franchise system in one of Canada’s largest franchise transactions of 2019.
That experience shaped how John thinks about franchising: growth is not created by documents, hype, or founder charisma. It is created by economics, culture, systems, leadership, franchisee performance, and relentless execution.
As Chief Strategist at Franchise GrowthLab, John helps franchisors see what is really limiting growth. He is known for turning complexity into clear priorities, exposing the bottlenecks that keep systems stuck, and building practical roadmaps that leadership teams can actually execute.
John is Past Chair of the Canadian Franchise Association, advised multiple franchise brands, and helped build a company recognized as one of Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures and Canada’s Smartest Company. He is a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner and a keynote speaker across North America.
He is also a soccer coach, Hyroxer, and trail runner — which is fitting, because he believes scaling a franchise system takes endurance, discipline, and a lot less theory than most consultants want to admit.
Patrick Wyness
Vice President, Operational Systems
Patrick does not build systems that look good in a binder. He builds systems franchisees actually use.
Patrick has spent more than 15 years inside franchise systems — helping brands like Nurse Next Door and 1-800-GOT-JUNK? grow from 10 locations to 100+ locations, launching and supporting hundreds of franchisees across North America and Australia, and operating his own $1M+ award-winning 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchise.
That matters.
Because franchise support is not theory. It is launch calls, stressed operators, unclear checklists, uneven execution, underperforming locations, and the constant pressure to make the system easier to follow.
At FGL, Patrick helps franchisors build the operational infrastructure that keeps growth from turning into chaos: onboarding, training, launch protocols, field support, scorecards, coaching rhythms, and franchisee performance systems.
He knows what franchisees need because he has supported them, coached them, and been one.
Core Strengths:
- Franchisee onboarding
- Operational systems
- Launch support
- Coaching cadence
- Performance scorecards
- Field support
Travis Tinning
Co-Founder, Franchise Growth Strategist, Sales Machine Builder
Travis is allergic to franchise theory that does not survive contact with real operators.
He has spent his career inside the messy, high-pressure reality of franchising: building systems, selling franchises, supporting operators, scaling teams, coaching founders, and calling out the structural issues that keep franchise companies stuck.
At FGL, Travis helps franchisors identify what is actually limiting growth — not the symptoms, the bottleneck underneath the symptoms. He is especially strong at exposing where franchise sales are hope-based, where onboarding is too noisy, where support is reactive, where the founder has become the ceiling, and where the system needs to be rebuilt around the few things that truly drive franchisee success.
Travis is one of the architects behind FGL’s core growth language: The Magic Number™, The 10/25/50 Trap™, Franchise Sales Machine™, and the idea that franchisors need to build systems franchisees can actually execute — not binders they ignore.
His work blends strategy, sales psychology, operational pattern recognition, and direct founder coaching. He is known for saying the thing everyone is thinking but no one wants to say, then turning that truth into a practical plan.
Travis is not here to make franchisors feel comfortable.
He is here to help them build the system strong enough to scale.
Core Strengths:
- Franchise sales strategy
- Scaling ceilings
- Founder coaching
- Sales systems
- Positioning
- Franchisee success systems
- Growth architecture
Julian Deck
Director of Strategic Implementation
Julian is the person who makes strategy survive contact with reality.
Most growth plans sound good in a meeting.
Then the team gets busy. Priorities blur. Communication breaks down. Accountability gets soft. Systems live in spreadsheets nobody uses. Growth creates more noise instead of more momentum.
Julian helps prevent that.
He has lived inside high-growth companies that had to scale fast without losing the plot. At lululemon, he supported the company’s expansion from $60M to $600M. At Nurse Next Door, he served as VP of Operations during a period of rapid U.S. expansion, helping the system grow from approximately 30 locations to well over 150 across Canada and the U.S.
Julian helped build the communication systems, analytics, IT, HR, Lean practices, and One Page Plan execution rhythms that allowed the brand to operate like a much larger franchisor while maintaining its culture, values, and purpose.
At FGL, Julian helps franchisors turn strategy into executable systems: operating cadence, accountability rhythms, communication loops, scorecards, cross-functional alignment, and practical tools that keep teams focused.
He is a systems thinker with an operator’s bias for action.
Core Strengths:
- Strategic implementation
- Execution systems
- Accountability rhythm
- Communication
- Analytics
- Scale planning
Gayla DeHart
Chief Relationship Officer
Gayla DeHart brings a practical, people-first lens to franchise growth, helping franchisors strengthen the systems, communication, and support rhythms required to scale with consistency.
Her work is grounded in the belief that healthy franchise systems are built through clarity, accountability, and strong relationships between franchisor teams and franchise partners.
At FGL, Gayla supports the development of franchisee-facing tools, onboarding resources, operational communication, and implementation materials that help turn strategy into day-to-day execution. She is especially focused on making complex ideas usable, ensuring franchisors are not just told what to improve, but are equipped with the structure and resources to actually improve it.
Gayla’s strength is translating big-picture growth goals into clear, practical support systems that help franchise teams stay aligned, focused, and ready for scale.
Laia Zubrecki
Operational Content Manager
Laia supports FGL’s work by helping transform research, meeting insights, client inputs, and strategic recommendations into organized, actionable growth materials.
With a strong focus on clarity, structure, and execution, Laia helps ensure that complex franchise growth challenges are translated into practical tools franchisors can use.
At FGL, Laia contributes to report development, content organization, implementation planning, and the creation of client-facing resources that support stronger franchise operations, training, development, and scale-up execution.
Laia plays an important role in helping the FGL team move from insight to implementation, ensuring that every engagement results in clear priorities, usable systems, and practical next steps.
Work with operators who have built the company you want to build.
If you are preparing to franchise or trying to scale an existing system, you do not need more theory.
You need the right people helping you build the system.
Find out where your system is strong, where it is exposed, and what needs to be built next.