Join Eric Stites and Allison from Franchise Business Review as they unveil the top 200 franchises for 2026. Discover insights into franchisee satisfaction, the diverse opportunities across industries, and the financial aspects of franchising. Whether you’re seeking independence, community involvement, or a profitable investment, this session provides valuable guidance and resources to help you find the perfect franchise fit. Explore the benefits of franchising and make 2026 the year you become a business owner!
Transcript:
FBR Marketing (00:00)
I will kick it off. I am Eric Stites founder with Franchise Business Review here, joined today with my great co-host, Allison.
And we are here to talk about the top 200 franchises for 2026. And just to give you a little background about what that means is Franchise Business Review has been doing franchisee satisfaction research across the franchise sector for 21 years. This is our 21st top franchises list.
What that means, franchisee satisfaction for folks, is essentially we’re the consumer reports of the franchise world. So we survey thousands of franchise owners across every industry you can imagine. Ask them if they like the business that they’re in, if they like their franchise community, if they like their franchisor are they getting the support and training that they need? Are they making any money, which is an important ⁓ factor.
And we take all those questions, basically rate each company based on 33 benchmark questions. And across the hundreds of companies that we survey each year, we do a ranking based on that data and come up with the top 200. the industry is very broad and we’ll talk more about that. mean, there’s over 3000 franchise companies in the US.
⁓ franchising and if you include Canadian franchise companies that are also franchising the US, it gets closer to 4,000 brands, obviously even larger if you look internationally. But the really important thing, like, you know, we do this every day and franchise owner satisfaction is key. so understanding, of all those brands out there,
which ones are making their owners happy, supporting their franchise owners and ultimately at the end of the day, would those people reinvest. So that being said, we are gonna talk about those top 200 franchises today, give you some industry insights, what we’re seeing
So with that being said, Allison, I’ll have you jump to the next slide.
Okay, well, thank you so much, Eric. So like Eric said, my name is Allison. I work in the marketing department here at Franchise Business Review. And one of the things that I get to do is I actually get to talk to a lot of current franchisees, which is one of my favorite things ever because they are from all different sectors, of course, because of franchising, but all different backgrounds.
So why would somebody want to invest in a franchise? There’s a lot of different reasons and there’s a lot of different stories that I hear. So one of the things is independence seeker. So of course, the United States, Canada is known for our entrepreneurial spirit and becoming a franchise owner is such a wonderful way to feed that spirit. Certainly people are looking for something to replace their current jobs.
whether they’re in corporate America or whether they’re doing something that just feels like such a grind and they want something different. Some people want to get more involved in their community. I I think about a franchisee I just spoke to who works in the tutoring education sector and is so heavily involved in her community. Some people want to do it strictly as an investment, a financial investment so that they can have a plan for their retirement.
Some people are looking for more of a work-life balance, which certainly franchising, especially after the first few years of grinding, can offer that freedom. Some people are looking to build an empire, meaning that they want to invest in a franchise and then begin to open multiple locations of that franchise, or even in some cases, multiple locations of multiple franchise across brands. And then of course, there are people who are looking to create a business that they can hand down to family.
legacy, all of that. So really and truly there’s no specific profile for who a franchisee is. Anybody, anybody might be interested in being a franchisee and might benefit from owning a franchise.
Excellent point, excellent point. And I guess I would add to that, so many people think that they can’t get into franchising because they don’t have specific experience in a certain industry, whatever it might be. And actually, the reverse is true in most cases. With the exception of maybe the food sector, franchise companies are
ideally looking for someone without specific industry experience and whatever it is that they, the service that they provide. And that’s because they want to teach you the way they do things. And they don’t want you coming with, know, preconceptions of how things are done. Or bad habits, right? Or bad habits, yeah. So, you know, just ⁓ don’t be disillusioned,
Any example, if childcare services or senior care services, just because you don’t specifically have experience in those sectors, don’t think that can’t can invest in those opportunities. so, you know, really, like I said at the beginning, franchising is so diverse. Three thousand, four thousand companies across North America. There’s so many opportunities that people have never even…
imagined were franchise companies. I mean, we all know, you know, kind of the household brands that we see driving down the highway. Lots of people know the food concepts that are very popular. But, you you pick any industry sector and there’s multiple franchise brands operating in that sector. So what I always tell candidates is, keep your eyes open. Consider all sorts of different opportunities that you may not have considered in the past. Look at
Certainly our website franchisebusinessreview.com. There’s lots of other franchise information sites out there that will give you a variety of opportunities. most people end up investing in a franchise company that they are in an industry they never thought they would invest in before.
that, franchising also comes in many different shapes and sizes. You’ve got large established brands with thousands of franchise owners. They’ve got things pretty much dialed in, in most cases, and they kind of do things their way. ⁓ And that’s great if they have an established business model and established systems.
And then there’s smaller brands that, they’re still trying to figure it out. you have the opportunity probably to be more entrepreneurial within that brand. But there’s certainly a lot more risk that comes with that as to, hitching your wagon to a smaller, maybe not as proven brand.
⁓ obviously growth opportunity, ⁓ exists for smaller brands, just like it does with larger brands, but, do that kind of self assessment, as to what your risk profile is, what your skill levels are, and where, kind of that best fit would be for you within the franchise world. it’s so diverse and there’s so many opportunities out there for people that, you know, I just invite you to.
you know, look at lots of different opportunities and kind of kick the tires on businesses you may never have thought about. Right. Right. I know. I love it. So many different kinds. Allison, what’s I know you’re relatively new to franchise business review. What was kind of your, I guess, first aha discovering a franchise that you never thought was a franchise business before? Gosh.
I mean, I didn’t realize how significant the senior care industry is and that that exists in a few different ways. So there’s home care, but then there’s also people who work almost as like consultants to help people learn about the different ways that they can support their loved ones who are aging. So that was kind of mind blowing to me because obviously our aging population is pretty big right now in the United States at least.
The Baby Boomers, it’s a big crew. So just knowing that there are so many franchisees out there doing that work and how much meaning they find in it. So that I think was a very cool thing that I got to discover early on working here. Yeah, yeah, no, that’s great.
so here’s an example of a great brand. So this is Wild Birds Unlimited, which is in the retail space. They sell supplies for birds. So things like bird feeders and other really cool things. Nature lovers love wild birds and they are a brand that has been working with us at Franchise Business Review for 20 years. And just to be clear about what that means, they have actually been surveying their franchisees.
for 20 years to see how they’re doing, So every year they send out all these surveys to all their franchise owners and ask them a series of questions. So we have 33 standard questions that go out and they ask things like, how do you feel about marketing? How do you feel about the training and support you receive? How do you feel about the franchisee community? You know, do you trust us as leaders, as your franchisor?
That’s the data that we use to rank these franchises. And Wild Birds is a great example of a brand that willingly enters into that and then takes the data that they collect from our surveys and then works to improve themselves, which is really incredible. Because as you know, more than anyone, Eric, not all franchise brands are willing to do that.
Yeah, no, when we give our awards away, we do that at the annual IFA conference each February coming up here for our 21st annual. And that’s always my favorite time of year. I mean, the gentleman right there in the middle of the photo is Jim Carpenter, who founded Wild Birds 35, 40 years ago. I don’t even know how long ago now.
But to see these founders of companies or CEOs of companies that are so passionate about getting this award, because obviously everybody thinks their company’s great, but to have your brand recognized by the franchise owners themselves is really the elite award in the industry. so, yeah, it makes me really happy when I see our…
clients coming and collect their awards and get their picture with their whole team. obviously the CEO is often the one in the middle that that’s holding the award, but it’s their support team around them in those photos that are actually doing the hard work every day to make their franchisees happy and successful. yeah, it’s a great time to see that and really enjoy the brands that, take that.
award in their franchisee success so seriously. All right. I think this is you, Eric. So this is all of our data. Yeah. So just, you know, I’ve touched on a couple of these data points, but just to kind of give you a rough idea of the industry and the surveying that we do. As I said, there’s thousands of brands across North America.
We survey between 25,000 and 30,000 franchise owners each year across several hundred leading brands. Some are doing it every year, some are doing it every other year. the questions where people tend to rate the highest are they enjoy being part
of their business enjoy being part of the franchisee community. So, you know, we see those questions commonly, 80 % and above. And that’s really why people get into franchising. And that’s the best part. You know, it’s kind of a cliche in the industry, but it’s basically buying a business, being in business for yourself, but not by yourself. we say that.
a lot and I know it does seem like a cliche, hate to bring up COVID from five years ago, but COVID had a huge impact on so many small business owners, ⁓ obviously all of us as people as well. But the franchise industry survived and thrived through that time because they had all these corporate folks behind them that could figure out
how to navigate, what adjustments needed to be done in their business model, how to get through that, how to get PPP loans or whatever to keep your employees employed, how to do curbside pickup, all those kinds of things. it’s amazing to have your own business and have employees of your own, but then have this corporate entity behind you providing services, R &D,
bringing on new products and services and helping figure it out. So again, it’s not being in business alone. The breakdown, it’s about 60, well, it tends up being 60-40, 60 % male. It’s 30%, 32 % here female-owned businesses. And the other gap is partners that are in business together.
Definitely we’ve seen ⁓ a big increase in the number of women-owned businesses over the last couple of decades, so that’s great to see. And if you look at those numbers of new franchisees that have come in just in the last two years, it’s even higher with female-owned businesses. So we love to see that. I listened to your podcast the other day, Allison, with Michelle, and I know the goal is to get to 50-50, and I was like,
Uh, I think we should go to 60 40 female. Why stop at 50 %? I love that. Um, And so the average, um, median age is, is in that, mid 40 range. and typically people that get into franchising tend to be kind of later in their corporate career and they’re looking for more, that lifestyle that comes with owning your own business and
and having that flexibility. But we’ve got lots of people that have come out of college and got right into franchising. We’ve gotten older folks that are retiring from their corporate jobs and then coming back and owning a small business. So it’s really all over the map. The big number there at the bottom, which I think a lot of people ask,
I get the question a lot is, well, how much money can you make in franchising? One of the questions we ask all the franchisees that we survey is that question is, what is their pre-tax income from their business? And it’s been averaging right around $142,000 the last couple of years. What that means, it’s different in every business, obviously, as far as
If you’re an employee, you think of a salary and your paycheck. Business owners are typically paying themselves a draw out of their business as they’re not necessarily taking a salary directly. And I don’t want to put the expectation out there that if you start a business today, you’ll be making 142,000 right out of the gate because typically it takes several years to get to the average.
income of a system. Those numbers specifically are for people that have been in business two years or longer. So beyond that kind of initial startup period. But those are good questions to ask franchise companies as to what is the typical profitability of their franchisees and what is that income potential because it ranges dramatically from system to system. Part-time franchisees, full-time franchisees.
different industries. you know, certainly a great question to ask franchisees and also talk to franchisees as well.
All right, so I know that Eric went over a lot of the percentages and statistics. As I mentioned before, our surveys that go out to this year, was 330 franchise brands and 26,000 franchisees, our surveys that go out at the minimum contain 33 questions.
And in general, franchisees across all industries rank things like their franchisee community really high. They rank that they enjoy operating the business. They enjoy the organization. They respect their franchisor. And just a note of clarification, franchisor is like the bigger corporate entity, whereas franchisees are the individual owners of each location. And then they feel like,
franchisees are supportive of the brand. And I think this really calls back to what Eric was saying before. Being a part of a franchise system has a lot of benefits rather than just going it alone. If you are an entrepreneur and you just want to open your own business, obviously there’s a ton of freedom in that. But there is also a bit more risk than if you were to do that within a franchise system because there’s a proven model there and you get a lot of corporate support.
And the places where across the board franchisees rank lowest, and again, this is across all those 330 brands, things like marketing programs or effective technology, innovation and creativity involving franchisees and their decision and then fees and financial picture. So most franchise brands do ask that you pay a fee. Sometimes that’s monthly, sometimes that’s based on royalties. It’s kind of a variety there. And understandably people.
People don’t love that aspect all the time. I do want to highlight that these areas, while overall they can be ranked negatively or on the lower end sometimes, we do acknowledge the brands that stand out in some of the areas, these areas like innovation, for example, or even profitability. And we have awards on our site that are more specific to those things. So like most innovative brands.
most profitable brands, and those lists do come out during the year. So that’s a little snapshot of the questions that we ask people and in general what we’re seeing with the data. You know, it’s funny, I would add to that, Allison, that a lot of people come to franchising thinking they want to own their own business, but starting a business is too hard. So I’m going to buy a franchise instead. they somehow
think that it’s easy. And so, again, I don’t want to, I don’t want to scare folks, you know, owning a business, whether a franchise or other business, non-franchise business is hard work. And it’s definitely going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your life. It’s also going to be very rewarding for you, hopefully, in owning your own business,
and working in your community and all of that obviously does come with lots of rewards. But I think a lot of, kind of the disconnect with some of these low rated areas are expectations that people have, you know, coming in. And sometimes that is the franchise company’s fault. Sometimes they, the franchise salespeople just, you know, they talk about all the great things and how easy it is and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they don’t really
temper those expectations. But, obviously, that’s where the rubber meets the road in small business as far as marketing programs and technology and all of those critical pieces. And I think those are great questions to really drill in when you’re talking to franchise companies, either the team at corporate or their franchise sales representative, or, you know,
Alternatively, when you’re talking to franchise owners, really drill into those specific areas. Because how you get customers to come in the door, or if it’s a service company where you’re bringing the service to them, those critical elements of marketing and technology are just that. They’re critical. And so, yeah, we have this great marketing program. Well, you know.
it takes a lot of work maybe to implement at the franchisee level. So really understanding kind of those nuances there. And so that when you come in as a franchise owner, you do have realistic expectations of what that program may be. And you’re gonna talk to lots of franchisees. Some are gonna be happy, some are gonna be not so happy. When you talk to an unhappy franchisee, know, it…
It isn’t necessarily a red flag unless everybody you talk to is unhappy. But I would encourage you to drill in and kind of find out what is it that’s making that person unhappy? again, maybe they’re part of a system that sales and marketing and networking is really a huge requirement of bringing in new business. And that’s not a skill set that they enjoy doing.
Just because you talk to someone that’s unhappy doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a flaw of the brand, but it’s a great opportunity to kind of drill in and find out what’s happening kind of behind the scenes.
we’ve talked a little bit about franchise business review and what we do, but I just want to again remind folks of all the resources that we have for people that are considering buying a franchise, investing in a franchise opportunity. Our top 200 list, which just came out as we said, is on the list on the website, excuse me. We have a whole bunch of other.
lists as Alison alluded to as far as different industry lists, different investment levels, ⁓ most profitable best opportunities for women based on, again, the surveying of female franchise owners. And, looking at different investment ranges is really critical and finding out we’re partnered with a company called Benetrends that can really help you with financing your franchise.
whether it be a traditional kind of financing bank loan or tapping into retirement savings, which a lot of folks can do. And you can do that through a professional service like this without actually paying early penalties on that, which is kind of cool. But talking to a company like benetrends is helpful ⁓ because then you can find out what type of business can I afford? It’s kind of like getting pre-approved for a mortgage.
because you don’t want to go out and do all your shopping, so to speak, and find out, you you can only afford a business of, you know, $100,000 and, you know, you’ve just fell in love with a business that requires 200 or 300 or $400,000 to start. So that’s a great place to start. And you can find that in our Finance Center or just go to the search bar and put in Benetrends. But then all the lists and all our award winners are there.
And more importantly, as Allison mentioned, she spends her time talking to lots of franchisees. We have tons of franchise success stories and profiles, webinar recordings that we’ve done in the past. Just talking to franchise owners. I know Allison’s gonna plug the podcast too. Another great resource, but I think that’s.
That’s where I always tell people to start is just listen to other franchise owners and their story and like where they came from, people that were teachers or firefighters or, came out of corporate America and now they own a franchise business and really understand, what motivated them. and, cause I think that’s the biggest disconnect for people is, they’re, frustrated in their job.
but they don’t quite know how to make that leap into business ownership and and franchising is a great opportunity for that.
I’ll let you talk about the podcast. All right. Oh yeah. Here we, I’m going to go here. All right. So yes, Eric mentioned we do have a podcast that launched back August, 2025. And our hope is to reach people who are thinking about franchising or maybe just even looking for an investment, looking for
different career path. So it gets down to the basics for sure. So we go into things like financing, we go into things like low cost franchise options or brick and mortar franchise options versus home based franchise. So we just cover the gamut. We talk to franchisees, we talk to experts.
And it’s been really fun. Michelle Rowan, who’s our president of Franchise Business Review is the host. I’m the producer. And really, it’s just geared to help people, to gather information. Because we definitely need that if we’re making a big decision, like investing in a franchise or even just changing jobs. So I’m going to go back here
So our emails are there. You are most welcome, as Eric said, to email us, especially if you have more specific questions but we are here to help you. We are at our heart. We are a market research firm. So we are peddling data. That is what we do. We are trying to share information that we have. So any way that we can assist you, let us know.
Alison, I’m just curious, you’ve talked to a lot of franchisees. I know one of the questions you ask them is often, what would they?
What do they wish they had known before they invested? And so like, what are some of the common questions, I guess, that you hear from franchisees or questions they wish they had asked or known before they got into the business? I that I’m putting you in the spot here. We didn’t plan on doing this. No, we didn’t. So obviously it does vary across industries. Many franchisees say that they wish they had done it sooner. They wish they invested in a franchise sooner.
I do talk to a lot of very successful franchisees, so kind of once they’re out of the woods, out of like that grind. So I think that obviously hindsight is 2020, right? Maybe those first three years were really, really hard for them and they worked a lot. I think that that’s a really good thing to remember is that if a franchisor is selling you like turnkey ready business, absentee ownership,
Run the other way, because that’s not what I’m hearing. I’m hearing ⁓ very successful franchisees, but they grind in their business, at least for that first year, and set things up. And then maybe after they really, really lean into the system and learn it, and maybe they invest in another location, then they’re able to step back. But I would say be wary of that instant turn, instant like you’re going to really be able to step away from the business.
and make money, I would definitely worry about that claim. Yeah, franchising is definitely not a get rich quick. It’s not. It’s not a silver bullet. No, and all the successful franchisees that I talk to are really hard workers. They’re really hard workers. And if they are at a moment in their career where they’re not having to work so hard, it’s hard earned. They got there because they worked to get there.
I think it’s a very exciting concept to think like, right, I’m going to do this job and it’s going to be maybe pretty tough for five years. Maybe I’m working 50 hours a week for that first year, 60 hours a week for that first year. And then it starts to kind of slowly dwindle. then, know, five, seven years in, I’m working 20 hours a week and I have a, you know, a manager that I can trust or a center director or whatever it is. And I’m stepping back like,
That’s amazing. But the stories that lead up to that is what you have to pay attention to so you know that it’s going to be a grind first. So yeah, things I, things I, people wish they knew certainly that like, obviously it would take a little bit for them to be able to have that work life balance dream, that it’s so different across industries and really pay attention and be open-minded about what industry you’re considering. Because if you just think of
the big food brands, Subway, et cetera, you’re missing out on like a whole lot that could be amazing. mean, there’s pet waste franchises, there are children’s ballet franchises, there are commercial cleaning franchises. I mean, it’s travel franchises, it’s all over the place. I think the important part is,
lots of people have talked about the fact that like there’s lots of non sexy, if you will, businesses out there, but that are very profitable industries. Yeah. And recession resistant too. Yeah. Yeah. one of the most important factors, beyond obviously franchisee satisfaction is whatever business you’re getting into, you need to be passionate about. And it doesn’t necessarily mean
you’re passionate about whatever the service is that you’re providing. mean, certainly you need to think it’s a good product or a good service. But, know, you just need to be passionate about the business itself and growing the business and whatever it is that makes people successful in that business. And that’s, I think that’s a great question to ask franchise owners is, you know, if you find a business that you’re interested in, find out and you can…
typically find this out from the franchisor they’ll provide you a list of all their franchisees, but specifically ask them who are the top 10, top 5 % of franchise owners in their system and what is it that they’re doing to be successful? And those are the people I’m always curious to talk to because it’s often very different from the product or the service of the company. mean, a simple example is
Subway. mean, typically an owner of a Subway franchise is not behind the counter slicing the meat making subs. mean, occasionally from time to time, an employee doesn’t show up. They probably have to do that. But most of the time they’re out in their community and they’re networking with other businesses and doing community support and doing things outside of their location.
And again, if that’s something that you can get excited about and passionate about, that may be a good fit for you. If you’re more kind of behind the scenes operations person, think it’s important to do that kind of skill set assessment and find brands that are more of a match for that.
There’s so much to talk about, obviously. And we hope that you’ll visit our website, because as Eric mentioned, that’s where a lot of our information is housed.
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Find a brand and an industry that gets you excited. Talk to lots of franchisees within that brand or find several in that, several different brands that are operating in that space and talk to all of them. Talk to the franchisor corporate office and just doing all of that homework, you’re gonna find something that gets you excited. And at the end of the day,
If you keep looking and kicking the tires on different businesses and you’re not finding something that gets you excited, maybe franchising is not the right fit. If you find something, definitely I encourage you to pull trigger and work hard. We’re here to support that process.
give you as many resources as you want as far as doing your homework and finding a brand that’s a good fit. So definitely reach out and check out all the resources on our site. And I wish everybody the best of success and make 2026 the year you became a business owner. Awesome. Thanks, everyone. Have a great day.
