South Africa has one of the highest rates of franchise sector participation in the world, with the industry contributing an estimated 15% to GDP. Yet as networks grow and new locations open, a familiar pattern is repeating itself: brands scale faster than their operational foundations can carry them. Leadership pipelines thin out, area managers are stretched, and the systems that work at ten units start to fracture at twenty.
It is a problem the sector has discussed for years. It is a problem that Larry Hodes has spent his career solving.
Hodes brings an unusual combination of credentials to the challenge. A business coach with more than two decades of experience working with growth-stage companies, he is also a board member of the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) and the founder and working owner of Arbour restaurant in Johannesburg. He does not advise franchise operators from the outside. He operates from within the same pressures, margin realities and leadership demands that his clients face daily.
On 1 March 2026, Hodes launched Grow Franchise, a dedicated division of Grow focused on putting the structures in place for the scaling of franchise network operations across South Africa.
The division works with franchise groups at the point where ambition and execution diverge, helping leadership teams build the systems, reporting structures and people capability required to sustain expansion without sacrificing margins or brand integrity. The work focuses on structural and operational readiness, ensuring that when growth comes, the business is built to hold it.
“Most franchise networks reach a ceiling not because the brand has failed, but because the structure behind it was never built to scale,” says Hodes. “The growth is real. The gap between where operators are and where they need to be, structurally, is also real. That gap is where we work.”
Grow Franchise marked its public debut at Hostex 2026, where Hodes led a panel discussion as part of the hospitality industry’s flagship trade event.
The division serves franchise groups nationally, with a particular focus on brands navigating the transition from early-stage growth to sustainable scale.
