Underdog Hot Picks At The International Franchise Show in London

By Sean Goldsmith

Discover the high-growth underdog brands at the International Franchise Show. Join high-margin, scalable investments before they go mainstream.

Smaller brands with tighter models, faster rollout economics, and structural demand are offering better upside than the saturated leaders dominating the floor.

Day one at the International Franchise Show is dominated by established brands with long queues and polished sales teams. Most visitors follow that gravity. The better opportunities are elsewhere. The underdogs — smaller, newer, or operationally sharper concepts — are building faster unit economics, entering less crowded demand pockets, and giving operators a cleaner path to multi-unit scale. These are not the safest investments, but they are the ones with the highest upside if executed properly.

Food & Beverage: Speed, Margins, and Cultural Moats

Boss Pizza — early, aggressive, and volume-driven. A £13.5k entry fee and delivery-first model make it accessible for multi-unit operators who want rapid rollout. The risk is obvious: pizza is saturated. The opportunity is execution speed. Operators who can secure territory and scale quickly will outperform those waiting for brand maturity.

7th Heaven sits in a different lane. With 75% gross margins and a simplified production model, it removes a large portion of traditional bakery complexity. The UK is still early for the brand, which creates an opening. If awareness builds, early franchisees benefit from margin strength without heavy labour requirements.

Care and Healthcare: Demand That Doesn’t Switch Off

Apollo Care offers a lower entry point into the the incredible Domiciliary Care sector. With investments under £50k, operators can access a sector where demand is rising with the ageing population. Apollo Care is ideally suited as a brand is as much about "Caring" as it is offering the service of "care". The model is operationally heavy, but the upside is territory expansion. Multi-territory ownership here is more achievable than in most food brands.

Tezlom is one of the most overlooked plays on the floor. Healthcare staffing is not discretionary spend. Demand from care homes and the NHS is constant, and shortages are structural. The model generates recurring revenue through placements rather than one-off transactions. The constraint is staffing retention, but operators who build strong local pipelines can scale faster than traditional domiciliary care franchises.

Fitness and Wellness: Smaller Units, Higher Efficiency

Bodystreet and Body20 are both built around EMS training, but the key advantage is unit efficiency. Smaller footprints, shorter sessions, and premium pricing create a stronger revenue-per-square-foot profile than traditional gyms. These are not mass-market models. They are designed for time-poor customers willing to pay for efficiency. Operators benefit from lower rent exposure and simpler staffing structures.

Mental Wellbeing and Education: Low Cost, High Demand

The Mental Wellbeing Company operates at the lowest end of the investment spectrum, but demand is expanding across schools and workplaces. The model relies on delivery of workshops rather than physical sites, which reduces overhead significantly. The question is consistency of delivery, but the contract potential is strong.

ComputerXplorers is already showing measurable growth with a hybrid delivery model. Coding and STEM education are not optional extras for parents anymore. The model produces recurring revenue through after-school and holiday programmes, with minimal real estate exposure.

Children’s Leisure and Experiential

Clip ‘n Climb is a larger-format play but stands out because it sells experiences rather than services. Parents continue to spend on children’s activities even when budgets tighten. The main barrier is site acquisition, but once secured, the model creates strong group bookings and repeat visits.

Support Services: The Quiet Scalers

Eazi-Apps represents the micro-franchise trend. It is not a high-barrier model, but it scales differently. Operators can build recurring revenue through local business clients without the cost of premises or staff. The risk is competition. The advantage is flexibility and low capital exposure.

What We Can Learn From This

The strongest opportunities at the show are not the biggest brands. They are the ones with tighter cost structures and faster paths to multi-unit ownership. Operators should focus on models where demand is already proven — healthcare, education, and efficient fitness — and where entry costs allow for expansion, not just survival. The next 3–5 years will favour operators who control multiple territories in these under-served categories rather than single-unit owners in saturated sectors.