2006 International Franchise Expo

The applause is over. The lights turned off. The stage closed. The 2006 International Franchise Expo is now officially finished. And yours truly is now on the road home, fresh with interviews revealing insights into this year's developments in franchising. Here are a few quick impressions of the expo and the industry.

• According to the organizer of the Expo, MFV Expositions, this year had the most exhibitors yet so that franchise buyers fortunate enough to attend had more franchise concepts to choose from. (MFV was interviewed. There will be an article later on this.)
• Exhibitors expressed that franchise buyers were down in attendance, indicating a softening of the buying market in '06. However, MFV mentioned that exhibitors who eyeballed the attendance might be decieved because the expo floor space was considerably larger this year to accomodate a record number of exhibitors.
• The IFA continues to increase its efforts to prod the franchise industry to better tap into minority franchise buyers with its recent launch of MinorityFran (more on this later).