Famous Brands International has signed an expanded area-development agreement that brings TCBY and Mrs. Fields into Georgia for the first time under franchisee Samuel Batt, adding a third state to his existing Carolinas territory and committing to 15 net-new locations across all three markets. The deal is the most concrete sign yet that the 45-year-old frozen-yogurt brand and its cookie-retail sibling are betting on suburban Southeast corridors for their next growth chapter.
Batt currently operates 15 TCBY units and two Mrs. Fields stores — a footprint he has built since entering the system in 2010. His portfolio is tracking its strongest annual performance on record, with year-to-date sales running double digits above the prior-year comparable period, a velocity signal that gave Famous Brands International confidence to extend his development rights southward into Atlanta and surrounding Georgia markets.
The Development Strategy
Batt's unit-growth blueprint prioritizes suburban growth corridors and college-adjacent trade areas, a format profile that has proven resilient in the Southeast's fast-expanding mid-size metros. His existing infrastructure is anchored in the Greater Charlotte market, and his near-term pipeline targets the Research Triangle — Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill — before moving into Charleston, South Carolina, and Atlanta. The approach mirrors broader franchised-dessert-retail trends, where operators are following rooftop density into second-ring suburbs rather than chasing high-rent urban flagship placements.
Batt also functions as a de facto regional franchisor within his territory: beyond operating his own stores, he provides operational guidance and development support to other franchisees in the area, a structure that gives Famous Brands a scalable, low-overhead growth engine in a region where both brands have historically been underpenetrated. He has reportedly donated six figures to local schools, sports organizations, and nonprofits over the tenure of his franchise agreement — a community-investment posture that operators increasingly use to build store-level traffic and brand affinity in new markets.
Brand and Category Context
The frozen-yogurt segment has navigated a choppy decade since its mid-2010s peak, when self-serve concepts crowded strip-center retail and oversaturation drove margin compression across the category. TCBY's pivot to a more curated self-serve model — Batt piloted the format in Charlotte — along with a menu that now spans more than 50 soft-serve and 16 hand-scooped yogurt flavors, including dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan, and no-sugar-added options, has helped differentiate the brand from commodity froyo competitors. More than 35 customizable toppings and a rotating seasonal lineup extend ticket size and drive repeat visits, both critical velocity levers in a dessert-retail format where throughput-per-square-foot drives unit economics.
Mrs. Fields, with a presence across 24 states and six countries, brings a complementary snacking and gifting occasion to co-located units — a dual-brand format that can lift average unit volume without proportionally increasing occupancy cost. Famous Brands International currently operates more than 275 franchised locations worldwide across both banners.
For operators and retail-adjacent observers watching the better-for-you snacking and frozen-dessert categories, the Southeast expansion is a useful data point on where franchised specialty dessert retail sees whitespace. The brands are actively recruiting experienced multi-unit operators for Raleigh-Durham, Charleston, and Atlanta — markets where suburban household formation and disposable-income growth are outpacing the national average. Operators tracking frozen and refrigerated dessert category trends or food-service franchise development will want to monitor whether TCBY's double-digit sales momentum holds as the new-unit pipeline scales.
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.
