What happens when a father of four, a franchise veteran, and an expert CMO collide with a unique private equity opportunity?
You get Leigh Feldman - a leader on a mission to turn cooking into confidence and business into community impact. As CEO of Youth Franchise Brands, Leigh is scaling companies like Young Chefs Academy and Flour Power Cooking Studios while rewriting the rules of franchising, leadership, and success.
But Leigh’s work is about more than business. It’s about teaching confidence through cooking, instilling STEM and entrepreneurial skills in the next generation, and building businesses that become true community assets.
This conversation is packed with frameworks, stories, and quotable moments on leadership, franchising, and redefining success on your own terms.
In this episode we dive into:
✅ The journey from agency life to private equity - and the lessons that stuck
✅ The Three Deep, Three Wide, Three High framework for building lasting client relationships
✅ The STOP method: how to cut through miscommunication and align teams fast
✅ Why franchising is really about empowering owners, not selling dreams✅ The parallels between martial arts belts and teaching kids kitchen skills in a progression model
✅ Why most new franchisees fail - and how to avoid under-capitalization
✅ What franchisors get wrong about “one-size-fits-all” support (and what to do instead)
✅ The North Star question: Is it important because it’s measured, or measured because it’s important?
✅ Why community reputation and relationships matter more than ads or campaigns
✅ What success looks like on Leigh’s terms - and what happened when he reverse-UNO'd that question back to Alex
This episode will expand how you think about leadership, growth, and building businesses that truly matter.
👋 Connect with Leigh:
LinkedIn: Leigh Feldman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leigh-feldman/
Learn more about Youth Franchise Brands: Young Chefs Academy: www.youngchefsacademy.com
Flour Power Cooking Studios: www.flourpowerstudios.com
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If you’re new here, I’m Alex—Strategic Growth Architect, keynote speaker, podcast host and creator of The CEO Recode.
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