Multi-Unit Month is back, and that means four brand-new podcast episodes dedicated to multi-unit franchising. Join us every Friday in May, when we’ll be speaking to many franchising experts and insiders – as well as multi-unit and multi-brand operators themselves – to learn why this form of franchise ownership is skyrocketing in popularity.   According to FRANdata, over half of all franchise units in the U.S. are controlled by multi-unit operators. There are more than 43,000 of these kinds of operators in the market, and this figure has been rising steadily since multi-unit ownership came to the forefront in the 1980s.   And while we’d commonly associate a broad, multi-unit portfolio with the QSR segment, the fact is that multi-unit and multi-brand ownership can be found across the board. It’s true that 81.96 per cent of QSR units fall under multi-unit ownership, but 71.5 per cent of beauty-focused brands also come under this umbrella. Just over half of all clothing and accessory locations are part of a multi-unit portfolio, too.  To learn more about multi-unit franchising and the strategies involved, we spoke with Matthew Haller, president and CEO of the IFA, Bill Edwards, founder of Edwards Global Services, and Michael Cullom, director at Moss Adams. If you’re looking to broaden your own franchise portfolio or embark upon expansive growth for the first time, then tune in to learn from the experts.   To keep your finger on the beating pulse of franchising, sign up for our newsletter at global-franchise.com, subscribe to our definitive magazine, and join the conversation with our experts today on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Ⓛ https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-franchise/ ⓣ https://twitter.com/globalfranmag ⓕ https://www.facebook.com/globalfranchisemag/ Multi-Unit Month is brought to you by The DS Group, a multi-unit and multi-brand franchise group that prides itself on operational excellence, speed of service, and the growth of its people within the hospitality space.