We started with 4,000.
We kept the 250 we’d
recommend to a family member.
Most franchise directories list every brand that paid to be there. We don’t take listing fees. Every franchise passed a multi-point vetting process built around one question: would a well-informed person actually be happy they bought this?
See your matches → How it worksWhat’s actually in a Franchise Disclosure Document — and why most buyers never read it.
Every franchisor is required by federal law to provide a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) to prospective buyers. It contains 23 items covering fees, litigation history, earnings, franchisee turnover, renewal terms, and more.
Most candidates receive the FDD weeks into the sales process — after they’ve already developed emotional attachment to a brand. We review FDDs before you ever see a brand name. The flags we find are the ones you’d want to know first.
As a consultant-partner network member, we also receive data directly from franchisors that is not published publicly — including internal performance breakdowns, territory maps, and franchisee satisfaction surveys not included in the FDD itself.
The 6 criteria every franchise must pass.
Fail any one of these and the brand doesn’t make the list — regardless of brand recognition, marketing budget, or referral fee.
Franchisee Renewal Rate
When a franchise agreement expires, does the franchisee re-sign? A high renewal rate is the single most honest signal that people are actually making money and staying in voluntarily.
Our threshold: We require renewal rates above system median. Brands below 75% undergo additional scrutiny regardless of other scores.
Item 19 Earnings Transparency
Item 19 of the FDD is where franchisors can — but are not required to — disclose what owners actually earn. Brands that omit this are hiding something. We only include franchisors who show the numbers.
Our threshold: Full Item 19 disclosure required. Partial disclosures reviewed case-by-case with heavy scrutiny.
Franchisee Turnover
Item 20 of the FDD shows how many units opened, closed, or transferred in the last three years. High turnover — especially closures — is a red flag that no sales deck can paper over.
Our threshold: Closure rates are benchmarked against category averages. Outliers require a documented explanation before inclusion.
Litigation History
Item 3 lists pending and past litigation against the franchisor. A few lawsuits in a large system is normal. A pattern of franchisee-initiated actions is not, and signals a systemic problem with how the franchisor treats its owners.
Our threshold: We flag any brand with franchisee-initiated litigation representing more than 2% of active units in the trailing 5 years.
Minimum 3 Years Operating
Early-stage franchise systems have not proven their model under real market conditions across diverse operators. We don’t let you fund someone else’s experiment. Three years of multi-unit data is the minimum to understand if the model works outside of the founder’s own location.
Our threshold: Minimum 3 years in operation AND minimum 10 franchised units (not corporate) before inclusion.
Investment Range Integrity
Item 7 of the FDD lists the estimated initial investment. We compare FDD estimates to what franchisees in our network actually spent. Brands where real-world costs routinely exceed estimates by more than 20% are removed.
Our threshold: Real-world investment must track within 20% of Item 7 estimates across a validated sample of recent openings.
Why our information is different.
The FDD is public record. What we have access to beyond the FDD is not.
FDD Analysis
We review every item in the FDD — not just the headline numbers. Footnotes, definitions, and exclusions in Item 19 matter as much as the figures themselves.
Consultant-Partner Access
As a member of the consultant-partner network, franchisors share data with us directly — including performance breakdowns, territory maps, and satisfaction surveys that are never in the FDD.
Internal Rankings
Our network maintains internal rankings built from aggregated franchisee performance data, not marketing claims. Rankings are updated annually and are only available to network members.
Franchisee Validation Calls
We speak directly with current and former franchisees — not as part of a brand-curated validation call list, but through our own independent outreach. What franchisees say off-script is often the most useful data point we have.
What a typical directory includes. What we don’t.
Most franchise directories are paid listings. Here’s the difference.
- ✗ Brands that paid a listing fee to appear — regardless of franchisee outcomes
- ✗ Concepts under 3 years old with no multi-unit performance data
- ✗ Brands that omit Item 19 earnings data from their FDD
- ✗ Systems with franchisee-initiated litigation patterns above our threshold
- ✗ Brands where real-world investment routinely exceeds FDD estimates by 20%+
- ✓ Only brands that passed all 6 criteria — across every investment tier from $50K to $500K+
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