Whilst the literature on international franchising practice is well established, an issue that remains unaddressed is the optimal timing for international expansion activities. In this study an Internet survey of the population of business format franchisors in Australia is conducted to obtain a profile of franchising, including international expansion data. In the second stage, a series of case studies with 16 Australian-based franchise systems is reported. The results indicate that franchisors do not wait until the domestic market is saturated before venturing overseas. Moreover, franchisors tend to develop their international expansion strategies after the business has demonstrated success in the local market.