If you’re in the throes of researching franchise opportunities, you’ve come to the right place. Franchise Business Review is the leading market research firm dedicated to the franchise experience. We survey tens of thousands of franchisees a year to determine which franchise brands are the best to own. We are the Consumer Reports of franchising and we’ve been around for 20 years. Frankly, you shouldn’t make an investment decision about franchising without our data.
Our data is VAST. So, the question is, how do you use it?
How to Use FBR’s Data When Researching Franchise Opportunities
Visit Our Website
You are nailing this one. But seriously, go where the data is. We’re over here talking to franchisees like it’s our job (it is our job). Any franchise that’s worth your time and money should care about its franchisees. If they do, they’re conducting a third-party survey to find out how their franchisees are faring. They’re asking the good questions to find out if the franchise owners are satisfied owning their business.
Long story short: the good franchise brands care about their franchisees and have systems in place to receive their feedback.
If you see a brand on our website, it means they survey their franchisees. Many of them even share their complete survey reports on our website so you can get a clear picture of what it’s like to own one of their franchises.
Determine What Factors Are Most Important To You
If you’ve been researching franchise opportunities, you know there are a ton of factors to consider. Here are just a few:
- Investment amount
- Industry (i.e. food, senior care, services)
- Business Type (brick and mortar, work from home, etc.)
It’s critical to determine which of these is paramount to you. Once you figure out your investment priorities and interests, you can outline your next steps. For example, if you’re interested in a food franchise with a hefty investment, your focus will likely be securing funding and determining a territory.
Check Your Fundability
As we mentioned above, securing financing could be critical when investing in a franchise. While it can feel really overwhelming given all the financing options available to you, we do our best to simplify the process. Our partner Benetrends works with franchise buyers all the time. With their help, we have a funding calculator on our site that helps determine what kind of investment you can afford. This funding calculator really demystifies the process of buying a franchise. Rather than guessing what you can afford, the calculator lays it all out for you. Additionally, we have loads of resources for you to consider in our financial resources center. You shouldn’t have to go through the financing part of franchising alone–we’ve got you.
Get Searching
You may have noticed already but, we love a good list. Data is the heart of Franchise Business Review and we’re all a bunch of data nerds. We take the insights from the franchisee surveys we do and rank franchise brands based on their performance. Then, we analyze the responses from the franchisees and use a weighted scale to determine an overall Franchise Satisfaction Index (FSI) score that ranges from 0-100. We also consider the participation percentage and the size of the franchise company. We work hard to translate the data from all of these franchisees for people researching franchises (like you!).
Then, we make our lists! Here are some of the lists we feature on our website. We update them yearly according to the insights we receive from franchisee surveys.
- Top 200 Franchises
- Top Franchises for Women
- Culture100
- Top Food and Beverage Franchises
- Top Franchises for Veterans
- Most Innovative Franchises
- Most Profitable Franchises
- Top Recession-Resistant Franchises
- Top Low-Cost Franchises
Read the Franchise Brands’ Reports
As a reminder, the best franchise brands care about their franchisees. If they appear on one of our lists it means they’ve surveyed their franchisees that year and their franchisees rank them high in areas like marketing support, culture, technology, and more. Many of the brands on our list even share their full reports. Take Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee Truck, for example. When you go to their page on our site, you can download and read real responses from their franchisees and see how they measure up in various areas. Interested in a brand that’s on the cutting edge of technology? Pay special attention to that section of the report! Think you’ll need extra support in marketing? Make sure you get eyes on how that brand performs in that sector.
Gather ALL the Information You Can
When it comes to researching franchise opportunities, the more you do, the better. Investing in a franchise means you’re starting a long, serious relationship. Don’t take the leap without doing your due diligence. Your future deserves thorough research and planning.
In addition to all of the ways to use our data above, here are a few more resources to help you as you research franchises.
- Listen to our podcast! Aimed at people considering buying a franchise, From A To Franchisee: The Podcast for Smarter Franchise Buying answers all your questions about the world of franchising. With expert guests and honest talk, we lay out everything you need to know to make the best choices for your future. Available on all major podcast platforms including YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.
- Watch our webinars! We do everything we can to showcase and demystify the franchisee experience. From conversations with franchisees to divulging how much money you can make as a franchise owner, we cover it all.
- Subscribe to our emails! We create a lot of content around franchising. What can we say, with great data comes great responsibility! We’ll share the latest news, insights, lists, and more. We’ll really do anything to support you in your researching process.
Your Unbiased Hub for Researching Franchise Opportunities
Franchise Business Review has no skin in the game when it comes to what franchise you invest in. We are not a franchise broker, we are a market research firm. Surveying with us is free and no brand can pay to be placed on our lists. Our revenue comes from more advanced surveys, how brands elect to share their results, and of course, advertising. You’ll see advertising on our site but only from brands that score high in franchisee satisfaction. Our standards are high and we only want to tell you about brands that care about franchisee satisfaction.
Best of luck on your journey into franchising!
