About Business Franchise Australia

Business Franchise Australia

Overview

Business Franchise Australia, published in full as Business Franchise Australia & New Zealand, is a trade magazine and online directory serving the franchising sector in Australia and New Zealand. It is published by CGB Publishing and is aimed squarely at people buying, running or growing a franchise: prospective franchisees researching their first business, existing franchisees and franchisors, and the lawyers, accountants, financiers and consultants who advise them. The magazine describes itself, in its own publishing material, as "Australia's most frequently published franchise magazine" and "the voice of Australian & NZ franchising"; those are the publisher's characterisations, presented here as such.

What can be verified directly is the shape and currency of the operation. The magazine is published bi-monthly — six printed editions a year — and each edition is also released as a digital edition and in a mobile app edition. Alongside the magazine, the publisher produces the annual Australian Business Franchise Directory and the Business Franchise Guide, and the website is updated continuously between issues with franchise news, expert advice and directory listings. The title was current in October 2026: its website carried news and advice articles dated September and October 2026, and its magazine page presented the Sept/Oct 2026 edition (cover brand TDA Franchising, with a special feature on food franchising) as the current issue, available to read in print and digital form.

History

The publisher's own account, set out on its About page, is the documented spine of the title's history. CGB Publishing says it was established in 1985 and has been publishing franchise magazines since that year; the Australian edition of Business Franchise was first published in 2005, and the publisher states that the bi-monthly schedule has been maintained without interruption since then, giving the title 21 years of continuous publication by 2026. That continuity is consistent with the independent record: digital back issues from 2017, for example, were distributed through the Pocketmags platform, and the current Sept/Oct 2026 edition was live on the magazine's own site in October 2026.

The magazine's format has been consistent across that run: each issue profiles selected franchise systems, carries "Franchisee in Action" stories about individual franchise owners and "Franchisor in Depth" features on franchisors, publishes expert advice from franchise lawyers, bankers, accountants and consultants, and prints A–Z listings of available franchise opportunities. Directory records of the publisher's earlier range also list companion products under the CGB umbrella, including The Franchisor and The Franchise Directory, sold through newsagents, online and via mobile app; the companion publications the publisher itself currently promotes alongside the magazine are the annual Australian Business Franchise Directory and the Business Franchise Guide. CGB Publishing's franchise publishing is not confined to Australia: its own sites show the group also publishes Canadian Franchise Magazine in Canada and Franchising USA in the United States, with the same publishing contact named across the group.

Content and Coverage

Editorial coverage is organised around the practical decisions of franchise ownership. News reporting tracks franchise brands' expansion, financial results and executive moves — October 2026 coverage, for example, reported Club Pilates reaching 40 Australian studios and Muzz Buzz confirming its operations would continue unchanged after the death of its founder. Featured-brand articles profile systems recruiting franchisees, from frozen yoghurt and fitness concepts to home services and food brands. A "Getting Started" strand explains the Franchising Code of Conduct, financing and due diligence for first-time buyers, while an expert-advice strand carries pieces by sector specialists on topics such as the Australian Taxation Office's small-business focus areas (September 2026), franchise recruitment strategy and franchise marketing, including a October 2026 piece arguing the continuing place of print in franchise marketing plans.

The directory function is integral to the title rather than an add-on. The website's franchise directory lists opportunities with investment levels, sectors and locations across every Australian state and territory and New Zealand — listings sighted in October 2026 ranged from automated retail and gutter-guard services to gym, food and care franchises with investments from under $100,000 to more than $500,000. The magazine also reports closely on the sector's exhibition circuit: it is the official media partner for the Australian franchising expos run by Specialised Events, and its coverage published the 2026 diary dates for the Brisbane (21–22 March), Sydney (30–31 May) and Melbourne (1–2 August) shows, alongside its report that the Melbourne Franchising Expo finished its 2026 series with record visitor numbers.

Audience and Reach

The audience is the franchising community of Australia and New Zealand: aspiring business owners comparing franchise systems, franchisees and multi-unit operators, franchisor executives, and the professional-services providers — legal, accounting, finance, insurance and consulting firms — who sell into the sector and advertise in its pages. The publisher's own figures, published on its About page in October 2026, put the website's archive at 4,871 published articles and listings, with 48 franchise opportunities and 18 professional service providers in the directory at that time; the site also promotes the directory to franchisors as reaching "over a million motivated readers across ANZ," which is the publisher's marketing claim and is not independently verified. No audited circulation figure for the magazine is published in the material consulted, and none is claimed here. Directory listings of the title in Feedspot's 2026 Australian business magazine rankings recorded modest social followings for the magazine of roughly 1,400 on Facebook, 2,000 on Twitter and 1,300 on Instagram — aggregator figures that indicate a niche trade readership rather than a mass consumer one.

Digital Presence

The website at businessfranchiseaustralia.com.au is the title's daily face: it was carrying new articles dated 9 October 2026 in the week it was consulted, organised into news, featured brands, expert advice, a blog and the searchable franchise directory. Print subscribers can read each edition as a digital replica or in the mobile app edition, current and back issues are available digitally, and back issues have also been sold through Pocketmags. The magazine maintains Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, which it uses to distribute news and directory listings between print editions.

Ownership and Organisation

Business Franchise Australia & New Zealand is published by CGB Publishing, which the publisher states was established in 1985. The publisher is a current member of the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA), the peak body for franchising in Australia, and of the International Franchise Association (IFA) in the United States. Within the sector's events circuit, the magazine is the official media partner at all Australian franchise trade shows held by Specialised Events, a media partner with MFV Exhibitions, and — by its own account — has attended the annual International Franchise Expo in New York as a media partner for 15 consecutive years; in 2026 it is also a media partner at the International World Franchise Show in Florida. The named publisher of the magazine in 2026 is Vikki Bradbury, who is bylined as "Publisher, Business Franchise Magazine Australia/New Zealand" on the site's August 2026 articles and is named on CGB Publishing's Canadian Franchise Magazine site as the group's contact for editorial and advertising. The magazine's expo coverage has also listed Melinda Cunningham as its sales manager.

Contact and Availability

The printed magazine is available by subscription through the magazine's website, and every edition can be read as a digital edition or in the mobile app edition; the annual Australian Business Franchise Directory and Business Franchise Guide are published alongside it. CGB Publishing's postal address, as published on the magazine's About page, is PO Box 17, Pomona QLD 4568, Australia, and the About page directs editorial and advertising enquiries to the publisher through its cgbpublishing.com.au address. One discrepancy should be recorded: this directory's inventory lists the magazine at Mt Eliza, Victoria, and older industry listings placed the publisher in Victoria (its sales contact number carries a Victorian 03 area code), but the publisher's own current published postal address is Pomona, in Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland. The frontmatter of this profile retains the inventory city; the publisher's stated Queensland address is the one it currently publishes for correspondence.