Low volume custom manufacturing of high precision parts would be interesting. Unfortunately I think there is no demand for something like this. So the little guy wanting to take advantage of all this wonderful creative technology cannot really do so to support his shop. He needs thousands of dollars of revenue per month. How could he do that and also pay and come up with genius marketing to make people ever even ring the phone, or order and pickup or ship an item? Maybe their could be parametric design tools for certain parts. Enter power, weight, efficiency now make me a sterling engine. That sort of thing.
Uber could be replaced by a federation of dispatchers. Why didn't one of these monster cab companies in the metros make their own franchise app? It doesn't even have to be an app. It could be as simple as a website like www.yellowcab.com/marion-oh and everything in that page will get you what you need. Railroads need to move crew either by bus or by cab. I don't think they use uber for this.
Franchises give small business a way of accessing big business marketing. Gives us away of transforming a hobby into a viable path to independence. I like the idea of a battle tested business plan that you can use and I can accept the fees to stay with it.
I like the idea of match maker websites. But I hate the idea of becoming even lower than a wage slave, a contract worker. All the liability is on the contract worker. All the profit goes to Uber where it is spent on making 300 mb apps.
That is exactly the same risk as franchises. You put up all the capital, take on all the risk. They give you marketing and operational support, and take a cut of profits in addition to fees. They already have a solid business model and will do fine whether you succeed or fail.
That is also likely why franchises aren't mentioned much here. If people on HN are going to jump into a high-risk venture that is going to cost anywhere from 100K up to multi-millions, they want it to be their own product, not replicating an existing franchise and having to follow their rules and strategy.
Franchises do have their place in the business world, and they are the right answer for some people. It just isn't the risk/reward model that the startup crowd tends to aim for.
[0] https://coopcycle.org/en/federation/