Celebrated franchise consultant Chris Conner is confident that the Caribbean market represents a major opportunity for business development. Conner, based in the United States, has achieved massive success as a business development consultant, helping brands such as Jimmy John’s, European Wax Centre, 911 Restoration, Smashburger, Marco’s Pizza, Mad Science Group and others expand into fully functioning franchises.
The president of Franchise Marketing Systems was recently in Saint Lucia for the Caribbean Franchise Summit 2026, hosted by BizConnect Caribbean. He told St. Lucia Times that the talent and opportunities in the room are consistent with what he has seen across the region.
“The Caribbean Franchise Summit was not my first franchise event in the Caribbean; what I have seen consistently is a level of talent and extremely bright business minds excited about growth and positioning their businesses for scale,” he noted. “Anyone considering opportunities for growth needs to be looking at the Caribbean as one of those markets to pay attention to.”
Conner views the region not merely as individual islands, but as a collective force for business growth. He believes that this untapped market has significant upside potential.
“The Caribbean represents one of the more significant opportunities for growth and development through franchising in the world,” he said. “The amount of innovation, creativity and level of entrepreneurship are waiting to be untapped in the Caribbean, the market altogether is in excess of 44 million people, and in many ways, the franchise market is largely undeveloped, representing enormous upside and potential for growth.”
