Yiren Lu

From drive-thru assistants to local marketing campaigns, franchisees and franchisors are already busy putting AI to work.

Autonomous businesses like Amazon Go and Bodega had lackluster or downright negative receptions. But a ping-pong club called PingPod seems to have cracked the formula.

When you've put your blood, sweat and tears into building an independent business, it's hard to know if converting to franchise is selling out, or buying into something better. We talked to business owners across industries about how they made the decision, and to franchisors on why they're pursuing the conversion strategy.