How Franchises Connect with Young Consumers Through Authenticity, Values and Convenience
Gen Z (those born during the late 1990s and early 2000s) is unlike any consumer group that came before it.
A study from McKinsey & Company found that Gen Z takes a more holistic approach to the brands it supports, looking beyond price to factors like values, authenticity and overall brand identity. This generation is especially drawn to brands that reflect its ethics and worldview.
For franchise brands hoping to win over Gen Z, understanding this group’s priorities, spending habits and preferences is essential. Some franchises are already getting it right. Here are a few of Gen Z’s favorite brands.
FACE FOUNDRIÉ
FACE FOUNDRIÉ is a facial bar franchise with a mission to make professional skincare accessible to all. Founder Michele Henry opened the first location in 2019 and created an inclusive brand culture that especially resonates with Gen Z.
Brilliant Tactic: Face Foundrie makes skincare part of everyday life. A 2025 Bread Financial and Ulta Beauty study found 47% of Gen Z enjoy evening skincare as a way to unwind.
Lesson: When your brand fits into the routines Gen Z already values, like self-care, they will naturally be attracted to your brand.
Gong Cha
Gong Cha is a global beverage brand known for premium tea, bubble tea and coffee with lots of room for customization. It launched in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 2006 and grew from there into an international brand.
Brilliant Tactic: The bubble tea franchise makes personalization part of the experience. Attentive reports that 71% of Gen Z want their favorite brands to remember their preferences.
Lesson: Gen Z tends to connect with brands that let them make the product feel like their own.
Jersey Mike’s
Jersey Mike’s is a Gen Z favorite that serves fresh-made subs and gives back to the community. Its roots go back to 1956, when the original Mike’s shop opened on the Jersey Shore before growing into the Jersey Mike’s brand.
Brilliant Tactic: Jersey Mike’s focuses on its favorite cause and goes all-in. Its Month of Giving has raised more than $143 million for the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games and the local state programs attending the USA Games since 2011.
Lesson: Brands can do well by doing good. Toast found younger diners care more than older ones whether a restaurant supports social causes.
Planet Fitness
Planet Fitness is a low-cost gym brand built around its welcoming “Judgement Free Zone” approach. It was founded in 1992 in Dover, New Hampshire, and grew by making gym culture feel less intimidating.
Brilliant Tactic: It makes fitness feel less stressful and more doable. Deloitte’s 2025 Gen Z and Millennial Survey found 40% of Gen Z say they feel stressed or anxious all or most of the time.
Lesson: Gen Z is more likely to respond to brands that feel friendly, inclusive and easy to join.
Playa Bowls
Playa Bowls serves acai, pitaya, coconut and other fruit-based bowls, along with smoothies, at their bright and beachy shops. The brand started in 2014 in Belmar, New Jersey, after its founders were inspired by surf-town bowl culture.
Brilliant Tactic: Play Bowls makes wellness feel fun, upbeat and worth sharing, which helps pull Gen Z in. That’s a smart move considering 77% of Gen Z discover new restaurants through social media, according to eater.com.
Lesson: Gen Z communicates through social media and pays attention to brands that create buzz. When healthy choices feel exciting, photogenic and popular, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) can help bring them through the door.
Smoothie King
Founded in 1973, Smoothie King is a Gen Z-friendly smoothie and bowl brand built around fitness, energy and grab-and-go wellness, with more than 1,000 locations nationwide.
Brilliant Tactic: Smoothie King makes wellness easy for Gen Z to fit into everyday life. McKinsey’s 2025 wellness research found about two-thirds of Gen Z and millennials bought functional-nutrition products that year. The brand attracts Gen Z employees for the same reasons.
Lesson: Gen Z values wellness, plus speed and convenience, and Smoothie King meets that demand with healthy options, simple online ordering and fast pickup.
Starbucks
Starbucks is a quintessential Gen Z go-to because it checks all the boxes on that generation’s wish list. It gives customers the freedom to customize their drinks, order ahead with ease, try limited-time favorites and spend time in a space that feels both useful and social.
Brilliant Tactic: Starbucks turns a simple coffee run into a personalized daily ritual that feels convenient, social and sharable.
Lesson: Create an experience people want to keep coming back to because it fits how they live.
