Samuel Batt of Batt Enterprises has signed an expanded development agreement with Famous Brands International — the parent of TCBY and Mrs. Fields — adding Georgia to his existing North and South Carolina territory and committing to 15 new locations across all three states. Batt already operates 15 TCBY and two Mrs. Fields units, and year-to-date sales are running double digits ahead of the prior-year period — making this his strongest performance since he entered the system in 2010.
For multi-unit operators evaluating franchise growth plays, the deal structure here is worth noting. Batt is functioning as both operator and area developer, which means he carries responsibility for identifying, onboarding, and supporting sub-franchisees within his territory. That dual role is increasingly common in legacy franchise systems trying to scale without building out a heavy corporate field team. Famous Brands International is effectively using Batt's 16 years of operational infrastructure in the Greater Charlotte market as a proof-of-concept to accelerate expansion into adjacent Southeast metros.
Site Strategy
Batt's location targeting follows a pattern operators in the QSR dessert category are deploying with measurable results: suburban growth corridors and college-adjacent neighborhoods. In North Carolina, he is prioritizing the Research Triangle — Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill — markets characterized by high foot traffic, strong disposable income among younger demographics, and relatively lower retail rents than Tier 1 metros. Georgia opens a path toward Atlanta and its surrounding suburbs, where franchise competition for inline and end-cap retail space remains active across multiple dessert and snack categories. For operators or brokers scouting similar corridors, this signals continued franchisee appetite for sub-$500,000 build-out concepts in mixed-use and lifestyle retail environments. See related site-selection intelligence in our operator intelligence coverage.
What Operators Should Watch
The TCBY menu breadth — more than 50 soft-serve and 16 hand-scooped yogurt flavors, with low-fat, fat-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, and no-sugar-added options — positions the brand to capture a wider dietary preference range than many dessert-category competitors. That range matters in college-adjacent and suburban family markets where operators increasingly need a single concept to satisfy diverse guest profiles without complicating back-of-house operations. Mrs. Fields' cookie and gift offering provides a complementary daypart and gifting revenue layer, which Batt's co-branded units are designed to exploit.
Batt also piloted TCBY's first self-serve format in Charlotte — an initiative that directly informed the brand's broader self-serve rollout — which illustrates how area developers in well-run franchise systems can generate meaningful R&D value for the franchisor. Operators considering area-developer roles should factor that influence into their negotiation and deal-structure conversations. For a broader look at how franchise systems are using operators as innovation pilots, see our brand launch and franchise growth coverage.
Famous Brands International currently operates more than 275 franchised locations worldwide, with TCBY carrying more than 125 of those units. Franchise opportunities are actively available in Raleigh-Durham, NC; Charleston, SC; and Atlanta, GA, and the brand is targeting experienced multi-unit operators for those markets.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
