FranchiseFinder
An app that maps athlete- and celebrity-owned franchise businesses near you, so fans can visit, support, and follow their favorite former stars' restaurant, fitness, and retail ventures.
sports fans, reality TV viewers, and foodies who want to dine or shop at places owned by public figures they follow
- Map of celebrity- and athlete-owned businesses nearby with owner photos and the backstory
- Visit check-ins that unlock badges and trivia about the owner
- Push alerts when a tracked owner opens a new location or visits one of their own spots
- Stories tab with short video tours and fan reviews for each location
The Kris Humphries piece is part of a larger pattern of athletes becoming franchisees (his Dave's Hot Chicken expansion to 30 Twin Cities locations is just one example); fans have no way to find or follow these spots in one place.
Coverage exists as listicles (Parade, Delish, FastFoodClub) and Kris Humphries/Dave's Hot Chicken expansion drew Daily Mail + BizJournals coverage, but no evidence of an active consumer search behavior beyond trivia-level curiosity.10 Restaurants You Didn't Know Were Owned by Celebs - Parade ↗Kim Kardashian's ex-husband Kris Humphries reveals career pivot ↗
No dedicated discovery app exists; OpenTable/Yelp/TripAdvisor don't filter by celebrity ownership — coverage is limited to static listicle articles.OpenTable - Discover & Reserve the Best Restaurants ↗The 15 Athlete-Owned Restaurants to Check Out - FastFoodClub ↗
Hard to monetize — users expect free discovery, OpenTable/Yelp own the booking/affiliate layer, and the niche is too thin for meaningful ad CPMs without a massive audience.Humphries family expands Dave's Hot Chicken franchise in Minnesota ↗
Athletes-into-franchising is a sustained trend (NBA players buying QSR/fitness brands), supported by Entrepreneur and Franthlete coverage, but ownership rosters churn.The Best Franchises for Athletes: Top Picks for Building Your Future ↗
A map-based directory is technically trivial to build, but ongoing curation of celebrity ownership data (which is poorly structured and frequently changes) is the real ongoing cost.25 Athletes Who Also Own Restaurants - FirstCuriosity ↗