January 2017 | Business View Magazine

24 25 The United Franchise Group (UFG) was found- ed in 1986 by the father and son team of Roy and RayTitus. “Roy was also the founder of Min- uteman Press in the early ‘70s,” says Joe Malmuth, UFG’s Director of Franchise Development. “So the family already had years of franchising experience.” The Group’s original company was Signarama, a sign-making company which utilized a material which was new at the time in the sign making world – vinyl. “A year later they started franchis- ing and Ray was the first salesperson,”Malmuth continues. “The first 14 years was just Signarama. Around the year 2000,we launched our second brand which was EmbroidMe.”Today, both of these companies are number one in the world in their respective industries. Over the last several years,UFG added more brands to its roster and moved from NewYork to its current 50,000 square-foot, corporate headquarters inWest Palm Beach, Florida. “After EmbroidMe,we added SuperGreen Solutions,which is an energy efficient products business–solar panels,wind turbines, and things of that nature,”Malmuth says. “We also added Transworld Business Advisors, which is the number-one business brokerage in the world. This past year we eclipsed over a billion dollars worth of businesses listed for sale. And we recently added Jon Smith Subs, and Venture X. Jon Smith Subs is a sub sandwich franchise, and Venture X is the first co-working space fran- chise. And Experimac is about two years old- that’s UNITED FRANCHISE GROUP The global leader for entrepreneurs United Franchise Group AT A GLANCE United franchise group WHAT: Umbrella company of more than 1,400 franchise locations in over 50 countries WHERE: West Palm Beach, Florida WEBSITE: www.unitedfranchisegroup.com