Jack Foster, Jake McLaughlin·March 30, 2026

How to Acquire 25 Franchise Units in 2.5 Years | Jake Foster & Jack McLaughlin Interview

Jack Foster (Wharton / Goldman Sachs / KKR) and Jake McLaughlin (Amherst / Barclays banking / Prospect Hill Growth Partners) are childhood friends who left finance careers to build a programmatic roll-up of Meineke Car Care franchise locations. Starting with a $2.8m friends-and-family equity raise (committed but callable deal-by-deal), they acquired 25 units across North Carolina, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts in approximately 2.5 years — funding roughly a third of those acquisitions purely from operating cash flow and sale-leaseback proceeds, with minimal leverage (~1x debt/EBITDA). Their first three-unit acquisition in Asheville, NC was fully equitized at $1.2m and they lived on-site for six months alongside their COO Joe, a master mechanic and former regional manager who serves as operational backbone. Their value creation model rests on process (digital vehicle inspections to grow ticket size without raising prices), incentive compensation (greater-of-clock-or-production pay for technicians, uncapped percentage-of-sales for front-of-house), and proprietary deal sourcing built by showing up personally at franchisee locations and cultivating relationships with Meineke corporate. At the time of recording, they were contemplating an exit at 25-30 units to return capital to investors and had already raised a new fund to pursue a parallel thesis in vehicle towing.

Deal facts

purchase price: First acquisition: $1.2m (three-unit Asheville, NC); total platform: ~25 units
sde ebitda: Target store-level EBITDA: ~20% of revenue per unit; corporate EBITDA goal $5-6m+
revenue: Target: $30m+ aggregate; ~$1m revenue per unit
financing structure: First acquisition fully equitized ($1.2m cash); subsequent deals mix of SBA 7(a) via Live Oak Bank (~90% LTV), balance sheet cash from operations, sale-leaseback proceeds, seller financing (one instance: 50% cash / 50% seller note, 3-year term, 4% interest), and family office real estate debt. Total equity raised: $2.8m friends-and-family.
notes: Raised $2.8m in a committed-but-callable friends-and-family round (callable deal-by-deal). Carry structure: 20-30% stepped carry (steps up to 30% above 4x return). Eight to nine locations funded purely from operating cash flow. Also conducted sale-leasebacks where real estate proceeds exceeded acquisition cost in some cases. Low leverage at ~1x debt/EBITDA at time of interview. 25 units acquired in approximately 2.5 years across NC, SC, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts.

Why this business

They wanted to do an auto franchise in the repair segment (not quick lube, collision, or car wash), choosing Meineke specifically because it was hyperfragmented (800+ locations, largest franchisee had only 25 at entry), comprised of aging owner-operators ready to exit, had strong unit economics (~$1m revenue, 20% store-level EBITDA margins), and offered a built-in CRM of acquisition targets within a closed-loop franchise network. They saw an opportunity to be the first programmatic consolidator in the brand and believed they could build a scalable platform that a larger buyer would find compelling.

What's working

Programmatic M&A engine: 15+ acquisitions in two years, improving diligence and deal execution with each transaction
COO Joe (master mechanic, former regional manager) as operational backbone enabling founders to move fast without automotive expertise
Digital vehicle inspection process that builds customer trust and drives ticket size growth without raising labor rates
Variable/incentive-based compensation (greater of clock hours or production hours for technicians; percentage of sales for front-of-house) attracting high-performing mechanics and aligning incentives
Sale-leaseback strategy on owned real estate generating proceeds that in some cases exceeded total acquisition cost, funding further acquisitions
Franchisee-of-the-year recognition; strong relationship with Meineke corporate, who now proactively brings them deals
Reinvesting operating cash flow into acquisitions, creating a self-funding flywheel (8-9 of 25 locations funded from business cash flow)
Seasons of acquisitions followed by integration cooling-off periods to avoid overwhelming the team
High car count / low ticket stores as highest-upside acquisition targets where process improvements (not price increases) drive revenue growth
Culture of accountability plus genuine employee care, including in-person events and flexible approach to personal circumstances

What's hard

Fear of getting stuck at three units — pipeline building was the dominant early concern
Seller emotions: most counterparties are making their largest-ever financial transaction, adding complexity and potential roadblocks
Speed and integration balance: moving very fast risks operational strain; they have 'muscled through' some things rather than standardizing properly
Franchiseor concentration limits: Meineke restricts how large any single franchisee can grow, creating an effective ceiling and forcing an exit at 25-30 units rather than continuing to 50-100
Deal selectivity: some early targets were in markets too small to support density and regional management infrastructure profitably
Integration of culture across multi-state, multi-market locations with diverse employee personalities and regional differences
Walking away from deals at the closing table when undisclosed capex issues surfaced (Joe has effective veto on acquisitions)

Notable quotes

We bought the first three on September 1st of 23. Number four was maybe December of 23. And so there was a couple months to figure out, can we work successfully with Joe? Do we like working together? Do we like the Meineke model? Like all of those types of things that I don't think you know till you're really in it.

If you take a guy who's had one Meineke for 40 years and he's got the best Meineke in North Carolina, there's going to be items that we can learn from him. And the second piece is, over time a lot of those folks have called us and said, I do think it's my time to go on to the next chapter. Before I speak with anyone else, are you interested?

It's a lot more difficult to grow car count than it is to grow ticket size. And if you steep below that $750,000 in sales, it's probably not just operator. There could be something fundamental about the location.

Eight or nine of our locations have come just from balance sheet cash — the business's cash flow is being reinvested into acquiring other businesses, plus sale-leaseback proceeds.