If you want to understand the franchise industry today, this stat is a great place to start: More than half of all franchise units operating in the U.S. last year—to be exact, 53.2% of those units—were owned by multi-unit owners. That’s according to franchise research and advisory firm FRANdata. And this tracks well with what’s happening in franchising more broadly, as ambitious franchisees want to own multiple units, and franchisors see multi-unit operators as an efficient and battle-tested way to expand.
Here at Entrepreneur, it made us wonder: What are the top franchise brands for multi-unit ownership?
To find out, we asked franchisors a few relevant questions: Do they offer discounts to franchisees purchasing multiple units? What percentage of their franchisees own multiple units? What percentage of their brand’s total units are owned by multi-unit franchisees? What is the average number of units owned by each franchisee? And finally, do they only sell multiple units or master licenses? Then we factored in each company’s Franchise 500 score, which is based on an analysis of more than 150 data points in the areas of costs and fees, size and growth, franchisee support, brand strength, and financial stability.
The result is this first-ever list—a helpful resource for anyone interested in multi-unit ownership. However, this list should not be construed as an endorsement of any particular brand. Whether you’re buying one unit or 50, you should always do your homework. That includes reading the company’s legal documents, consulting with an attorney and an accountant, and of course, talking to as many franchisees as you can.
Jenn Navarro/My Salon Suite (No. 12)
After Jenn Navarro and her husband Andrew worked with a franchise broker to find the right opportunity, he became a master franchisee with Anago Cleaning Systems, while she has opened four My Salon Suite locations in the Philadelphia area, with more to come.
What attracted you to My Salon Suite?
First, it wasn’t in the Pennsylvania market yet, and second, we had seen the same type of model work in Columbus, Ohio, where we were initially from. We had seen women opening up their own suites and being very successful. And we thought if we’re going to put our hardearned money and work out there, that we wanted to do it in a way that was going to benefit others as well.
What was it like getting started?
We really had to educate real estate brokers on why this would be a good concept for the market, and I even took some of them to Delaware to see a My Salon Suite in Wilmington so they could understand. Finally we signed two leases in February
