franchisee

Focus is on franchisee recruitment, target markets and nontraditional development.

Wendy's will close all of its 71 restaurants in Japan by the end of the month, the chain's Japanese franchisee, Zensho Co.

Ltd., announced. The news arrived just a matter of days after rival McDonald's reported that sales in Japan were so poor in November that they offset strong results in Australia and hurt the entire Asian region.

Pizza chain Papa John's International Inc. said Tuesday that its third-quarter profit rose 52 percent as lower sales were offset by a gain on consolidating the results of franchisee-owned cheese purchasing company BIBP Commodities Inc.