Co-founder, fulfillment
Nicolas Buffone
Nic leads fulfillment. He is responsible for the creative, the campaigns and the systems that turn franchise advertising into qualified applications.
About Expandify
We started in a Montreal basement to help franchise brands sell franchises online.
Expandify is a franchise marketing agency. We connect franchisors with qualified franchisees who are ready to invest, using advertising, lead capture and CRM automation built specifically for franchise development.
Our story
Brick by brick, market by market.
“Far from where I began. Nowhere near where I’m going.”
Nicolas Buffone and Jonathan Durante are childhood friends. In 2016 they teamed up, combining creative execution with business strategy, after spotting a real problem: great franchise brands were missing out on growth because they did not have the digital tools or the skills to reach investors online.
Expandify started in 2017 in Montreal, out of Jon’s parents’ basement. The idea was simple: build a growth system that connects franchisors with investor-ready candidates and turns attention into signed deals.
Today Nic leads fulfillment, running the creative and the systems behind every campaign. Jon leads sales from Miami, helping franchisors across North America turn interest into signed franchise agreements.
We are still building the same way we started: one brand, one market and one signed franchisee at a time.
Timeline
From one basement to franchisors across North America.
- 2016
Two friends, one problem
Nic and Jon team up after watching strong franchise brands miss out on growth online.
- 2017
A basement in Montreal
Expandify starts out of Jon’s parents’ basement in Montreal.
- 7+ yrs
Meta Marketing Partner
Certified Meta Marketing Partners for more than seven years, with $20M+ in ad spend managed.
- 2025
Published on Forbes
Our playbook for pairing social lead generation with CRM automation runs in Forbes Agency Council.
- 2026
Across North America
Ten published franchise expansions across the US and Canada, with Jon now based in Miami.
Our footprint
Markets our clients have opened.
From Edmonton to Orlando. Each column is a published case study, and arcs connect a brand’s home market to its new one.
PizzaholicEdmonton, ABStretchMED StudiosCaliforniaIdentity CoffeeScottsdale, AZYonutzThe Woodlands, TXAll Dogs UnleashedOrlando, FLComplete Pest SolutionsHope Mills, NCCandy Cloud CompanyCharlotte, NCSPICEBROS and Rock’N DeliBrampton and Mississauga, ONLa Belle ProvinceQuebec City, QCFounders
The two people behind every campaign.
Co-founder, sales
Jonathan Durante
Jon leads sales and works directly with franchisors on their growth plans, helping them convert interest into signed franchise deals. He is based in Miami.
The market
Why we only work with franchise brands.
Franchising quietly powers a large share of the US economy. Every one of those locations started with a franchisor finding the right operator. That is the problem we exist to solve.
$921Bprojected franchise output in 2026
8.9Mjobs in franchise businesses
845Kfranchise locations
~3%of US GDP
Source: International Franchise Association, 2026 Franchising Economic Outlook (February 2026). US figures; 2026 values are IFA forecasts.
How we work
What franchisors can expect from us.
- PlatformCertified Meta Marketing Partner, 7+ years
- Ad spend managed$20M+
- MarketsUnited States and Canada
- Listed inThe Franchise Directory
Franchise brands only
Every campaign we run is built for franchise development: recruiting the people who will own and operate your next locations.
Selective partnerships
We work closely with each franchise and partner only with brands we believe can win in their markets and grow reliably over the long term.
One system, end to end
Advertising, lead capture, nurturing and tracking are built together, so nothing is lost between the ad and the first conversation.
Results you can trace
Applications, pipeline stages and signed franchisees, tied back to the campaigns that produced them.
Clients
Some of the franchise brands we have worked with.
Which market do you want to open next?
Tell us where you want to grow and who your ideal franchisee is. On a strategy call we will walk through how we would approach the campaign, the funnel and the follow-up for those markets.
For franchisors in the United States and Canada.