The Franchise 500 is an annual ranking of the top 500 franchising companies in the U.S. and Canada, compiled by ''Entrepreneur'' magazine through a submission and review process. The ranking is based on an evaluation of each company's costs and fees, size and growth, franchisee support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability. The list includes both

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

and

privately held companies A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

, and has been published annually since 1980.

Qualifications

Each company that applies for the Franchise 500 through the online submission form is required to submit a copy of its current Franchise Disclosure Document and other supporting documents in order to verify the information submitted. All qualifying applicants are scored by Entrepreneur's proprietary formula, which evaluates franchise companies based on more than 150 data points across five pillars: costs and fees, size and growth, support, financial strength and stability, and brand strength. The 500 top-scoring companies become the Franchise 500. Entrepreneur typically receives more than 1,000 applications for the ranking annually. In addition to the main Franchise 500 ranking, ''Entrepreneur'' uses the data provided through the Franchise 500 applications to create additional smaller rankings and lists that are published throughout the year, including "Fastest-Growing Franchises," "Top New & Emerging Franchises," "Top Low-Cost Franchises," "Top Global Franchises," "Best of the Best", "Top Franchises for Veterans", "Top Homebased/Mobile Franchises" and "Top Food Franchises."

Rankings

* Franchise 500 - Overall ranking of the most successful franchise companies of the year.

Additional

* Fastest-Growing Franchises - The fastest-growing franchise companies based on systemwide unit growth over one year *Top New & Emerging Franchises - The top companies that have been franchising for five years or less *Top Low-Cost Franchises - The top franchises that can be started for less than $50,000, less than $100,000, and less than $150,000 *Top Global Franchises - The top franchises expanding outside the U.S. *Best of the Best - The #1 franchise from each category of the Franchise 500 ranking * Top Franchises for Veterans - The top franchises offering startup incentives for veterans *Top Homebased/Mobile Franchises - The top franchises that can be run from home and/or from a mobile unit (with no need for outside office, retail, or warehouse space) *Top Food Franchises - The top restaurant and retail food franchise opportunities

2022 list

In 2022, the ten companies that ranked at the top of the 500 were: {, class="wikitable sortable" !Rank !Company !Headquarters !Industry !Franchises (U.S.) !Total Units (Global) !Investment (

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

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Taco Bell Taco Bell is an American-based chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, includi ...

Irvine, CA Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 1971. ...

Food and Beverage The foodservice (US English) or catering (British English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, school and hospital cafeterias, catering operations, and many ...

, 6,418 , 7,567 , $575.6K - $3.4M , - , 2 ,

The UPS Store The UPS Store (formerly Mail Boxes Etc.) is a subsidiary of United Parcel Service which provides, according to its website, shipping, shredding, printing, fax, passport photos, personal and business mailboxes, and notary services. Histor ...

San Diego, CA San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

Postage The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...

, 5,006 , 5,359 , $185.3K - $474.2K , - , 3 ,

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., also known as Popeyes and formerly named Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits, is an American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants that was formed in 1972 ...

Miami, FL Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

, 2,654 , 3,575 , $383.5K - $3.5M , - , 4 ,

Jersey Mike's Subs A Sub Above, LLC., doing business as Jersey Mike's Subs, is an American submarine sandwich chain headquartered in Manasquan, New Jersey. The Jersey Mike's Franchising, franchise has about 2000 locations. Outside of the United States, there are tw ...

Manasquan, NJ Manasquan (, ) is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, on the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 5,938, an increase of 41 (+.7%) from the 2010 census count of 5,897, which ...

, 1,942 , 1,973 , $144.7K - $786.2K , - , 5 ,

Culver's Culver Franchising System, LLC (Culver's) is an American fast-casual restaurant chain. The company was founded in 1984 by George, Ruth, Craig, and Lea Culver. The first location opened in Sauk City, Wisconsin on July 18, 1984 under the name "Cul ...

, Prairie du Sac, WI ,

, 802 , 808 , $2.4M - $5.4M , - , 6 ,

Kumon Kumon Institute Education Co. Ltd. is an educational network based in Japan, created by Toru Kumon which uses his Kumon Method to teach mathematics and reading primarily for young students. History Kumon was founded by Toru Kumon, a Japanese ...

Ridgefield Park, NJ Ridgefield Park is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the village's population was 12,729,Children's Businesses , 1,592 , 26,365 , $64.5K - $139.9K , - , 7 ,

Planet Fitness Planet Fitness (PFIP LLC) is an American franchisor and operator of fitness centers based in Hampton, New Hampshire. The company reports that it has 2,039 clubs, making it one of the largest fitness club franchises by number of members and loca ...

, Hampton, NH ,

Fitness Centers A health club (also known as a fitness club, fitness center, health spa, and commonly referred to as a gym) is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise. In recent years, the number of fitness and health ser ...

, 2,006 , 2,174 , $936.6K - $4.6M , - , 8 ,

Servpro Servpro is a franchisor of fire and water cleanup and restoration franchises in the United States and Canada. The franchise system provides localized services as well as large-scale disaster recovery. It is headquartered in Gallatin, Tennessee. ...

, Gallatin, TN ,

Maintenance Maintenance may refer to: Biological science * Maintenance of an organism * Maintenance respiration Non-technical maintenance * Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English * Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doctrine ...

, 1,915 , 1,930 , $191.8K - $245.7K , - , 9 ,

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...

Dallas, TX Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wit ...

Retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

, 7,458 , 77,346 , $69.7K - $1.2M , - , 10 ,

Tropical Smoothie Cafe Tropical Smoothie Cafe, also referred to as Tropical Smoothie, or Tropical, is a restaurant franchise in the United States. In addition to smoothies, the cafes offer sandwiches, wraps, salads, flat breads, and introduced bowls to their food line ...

, {{Flagicon, USA

Atlanta, GA Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

, 990 , 991 , $257.5K - $560.5K

References

Annual magazines published in the United States Lists of magazines Corporation-related lists Top lists

Qualifications

Rankings

Additional

2022 list

See also

References