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Once upon a time, Americans had two options to alleviate their beef binging desires: visit a fast food jointor go to a traditionalsit-down restaurant. The former often offered sub-par meals, while the latter required too much of a commitment of both time and money. The people demanded a happy medium, where they could be chowing down on quality eats within minutes of ordering.

In a country obsessed with counting calories and limiting carbs, a new franchise has been born.

Looks like the College Hunks are graduating to the Penthouse.

Yes, according to a report on space-visible ads by NPR's Mito Habe-Evans, the Kentucky Fried Chicken gang has paid the ultimate tribute to their late leader, with a tile portrait of Colonel Sanders, out in the middle of a dry expanse of dirt in Nevada, that's visible from beyond our atmosphere.

Yes, all of the aforementioned stores offer frozen yogurt. And most of the products they offer are kosher, fat-and gluten-free, all-natural, and filled with probiotics found in “regular” yogurt that support immune health. Speaking of Pinkberry: Where does the equally colorful, both in name and storefront, Red Mango get off throwing around allegations of copycatism?

Out on the web, there's more than enough entertaining and interesting information to make your head spin. While the Internet of a half decade ago was held hostage by professionals and degree-touting experts reporting in the same old monotone voices, passionate topic bloggers soon tore that model apart, and helped open up the medium to anyone with something to say.

[Matt Wilson, FranchiseHelp]: Hello everybody. This is Matt Wilson coming from FranchiseHelp.com. I am here with Deborah Renshaw-Parker,former NASCAR driver and Apricot Lane Boutique franchisee. Deborah is coming to us from Bowling Green, Kentucky, where she owns an Apricot Lane franchise. We want to pick her brain a little bit. Thanks for coming on the show.

As far as the incentives go, there are three main categories that franchisors tend to work with when they're looking to increase access to their systems for minorities. The most popular method used, by far, is to offer discounts on initial franchise fees. The second most popular incentive offered to minorities by franchisors is financing assistance and other discounts to help pay off the sizable franchising fees that new franchisees incur. Finally, in rare instances, franchisors offer minority franchisees administrative and development support above and beyond what they provide to the non-minority franchisees in the system. Here is a list of franchises that have gone the extra mile to reach out to minorities looking to get involved in franchising.

During a recent conversation with a well respected franchisee recruiter, we discussed the qualities of an excellent listener. We came up with four different levels of listening. This franchisee recruiter explained that as he moved up in listening levels, he increased his results exponentially.