About Franchise Business Review and the Franchisee Satisfaction Awards

The award-winning team at Wild Birds Unlimited franchise. The team at Wild Birds Unlimited takes home the 2014 Franchisee Satisfaction Award for Best Franchise in the retail franchise category.

Background Information on Franchise Business Review

Franchise Business Review is a national franchise market research firm that performs independent surveys of franchisee satisfaction. We examine the critical areas of a franchise system including training & support, operations, franchisor/franchisee relations, financial opportunity, and more. Our survey results deliver the unbiased facts about the overall health of a franchise system directly from today's franchise owners.

Franchise Business Review researches hundreds of top franchise companies every year to help identify the very best franchise opportunities in the marketplace today - based on franchisee satisfaction and performance. Each year, Franchise Business Review publishes several annual franchise guides and other special franchise reports, filled with the top franchise rankings and information on the very best franchise opportunities.

A selection of Franchise Business Review's franchise guides that are published throughout the year.

What are the FBR 50 Franchisee Satisfaction Awards?

The FBR 50 Awards are an annual ranking of franchise companies based on their level of franchisee satisfaction. Each year, Franchise Business Review conducts thousands of independent surveys of franchisees, across hundreds of today's leading franchise brands. The awards recognize the Top 50 franchise companies with the highest levels of overall franchisee satisfaction, as well as Best in Category and Honorable Mention awards in 17 industry categories. This year, a total of 200 franchise companies were recognized as having outstanding franchisee satisfaction.

How many and what types of franchises participate in the FBR 50 Awards?

Franchise Business Review has surveyed over 200,000 franchisees from more than 800 leading franchise brands across North America. Our awards research is open to any franchise company with greater than 10 franchisees in their system. This year's participants included a wide array of companies from many different industries, ranging in size from small franchise systems with just a dozen franchisees, to large international brands with thousands of locations around the world.

Why are the FBR 50 Awards so important?

For the prospective franchise buyer, investing in a franchise is one of the most significant investments and life-changing events they will ever experience. There are many factors to consider before buying a franchise and chief among those factors is satisfaction levels of current franchisees. Are franchisees getting the training and support they need to be successful? Do they value their relationship with their franchisor? Are they growing and making money? Would they do it all over again? These important questions can only be answered by current franchisees — the true franchise experts. The research conducted by Franchise Business Review is the most comprehensive study of franchisee satisfaction ever done and the results speak for themselves.

How is the franchise survey process completed?

All active franchisees from each participating company were invited to participate in this project. Franchise Business Review staff made at least three attempts to reach each franchisee directly by email or telephone. Surveys were completed online, over the phone, via direct mail, or facsimile. Franchise Business Review attained an amazing rate of franchisee participation, averaging over 50%, and, in some cases, as many as 90 - 100% of franchisees took part.

The survey itself consisted of over of 50 questions. The first 33 questions are specific to the franchisees' satisfaction with their franchise system. Questions addressed key areas including: Training & Support, Franchise Systems, Franchisor Relationship, Franchisee Community, Financial Opportunity, and Overall Satisfaction. Other questions include market area, business lifestyle, demographic, and personal skills questions.

Sports Clips takes home the 2014 Franchisee Satisfaction Award. The Sport Clips franchise was rated a Top 50 Franchise (250+ franchise units class).

How are franchises ranked?

Companies are ranked based on a proprietary formula taking into account each company's average satisfaction score, system size, and rate of franchisee participation.