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Top 100 Franchise Opportunities 2011: Behind The Hype

July 18, 2011

Are these REALLY America’s 100 Best Franchise Opportunities?  Hear what their franchise owners have to say…

Franchise marketers and salespeople love to brag about their high franchise rankings and the awards they receive from the publications and groups they pay handsomely to promote their franchise opportunities.

And the King of all franchise rankings is Entrepreneur Magazine’s annual Franchise 500.  Even franchise #486 brags about its Entrepreneur ranking on its franchise website.

Which of these franchise opportunities do you think deserve to be listed in the Top 100? 

How the Entrepreneur Franchise 500® is Supposedly Determined

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According to Entrepreneur, “All companies, regardless of size, are judged by the same criteria: objective, quantifiable measures of a franchise operation. The most important factors include financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of the system. We also consider the number of years a company has been in business and the length of time it’s been franchising, startup costs, litigation, percentage of terminations and whether the company provides financing.”

“We do not measure subjective elements such as franchisee satisfaction or management style, since these are judgments only you can make based on your own needs and experiences. The objective factors are plugged into our exclusive Franchise 500® formula, with each eligible company receiving a cumulative score. The 500 franchises with the highest cumulative scores become the Franchise 500®.”

“We do not measure subjective elements such as franchisee satisfaction…”  Entrepreneur magazine

Entrepreneur magazine doesn’t get involved with subjective issues like franchisee satisfaction, but UnhappyFranchisee.com does.  So we invite you to add your opinions (below) of the Top 100 franchises for 2011 as determined by Entrepreneur magazine.  We also invite you to click on the links within the listing to see the posts and discussions of some of these concepts without the filter of hype and advertising dollars.

 

RANK FRANCHISE # UNITS 2007 # UNITS 2010 # UNITS +/- TOP DISCUSSIONS
1. Hampton Hotels 1,383 1,705 322  HAMPTON HOTELS Franchise Disclosure Document
2. ampm 720 1,199 479  BP, ARCO, am/pm Franchisees File Class Action Lawsuit
3. McDonald’s 11,674 12,477 803
4. 7-Eleven 5,580 6,515 935  7-Eleven Franchise Complaints
5. Supercuts 972 1,025 53
6. Days Inn 1,705 1,677 28
7. Vanguard Cleaning Systems 845 1,734 889 VANGUARD CLEANING SYSTEMS Franchise Scam Complaints
8. Servpro 1,368 1,526 158  SERVPRO Franchise Complaints
9. Subway 21,006 23,411 2405  Are SUBWAY Franchise Owners Happy?
10. Denny’s 975 1,296 321
11. Jan-Pro 6,409 10,266 3857 JAN-PRO Franchise Complaints
12. Hardee’s 1,156 1,225 69
13. Pizza Hut 6,079 6,917 838
14. Kumon 1,222 1,288 66
15. Dunkin’ Donuts 5,451 6,566 1115  DUNKIN’ DONUTS Accused of Franchise Discrimination Against African Americans
16. KFC 4,371 4,307 64
17. Jazzercise 5,918 6,627 709
18. Anytime Fitness 444 1,291 847  ANYTIME FITNESS Franchise Complaints
19. Matco Tools 1,457 1,397 -60 MATCO TOOLS Franchise Complaints
20. Stratus Building Solutions 708 3,512 2804 STRATUS BUILDING SOLUTIONS Franchise Complaints
21. Liberty Tax Service 2,070 3,053 983 LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints
22. Circle K 439 487 48
23. Papa John’s 1,683 2,229 546  PAPA JOHN’S PIZZA Franchise Complaints
24. Snap-on Tools 3,088 3,219 131  SNAP-ON TOOLS Franchise Complaints
25. CleanNet USA 3,861 4,745 884 CLEANNET USA Franchise Complaints
26. Aaron’s 441 579 138
27. H & R Block N.L. 4,017   —– TAX FRANCHISES: Biggest Winners & Losers of 2010
28. InterContinental Hotels 2,541 3,175 634
29. Great Clips 2,544 2,787 243 Are More Franchisees De-branding, Going Independent?
30. Jiffy Lube 1,915 1,966 51  JIFFY LUBE Franchise Complaints
31. Ace Hardware 4,229 4,128 -101
32. Papa Murphy’s 939 1,169 230
33. Snap Fitness 490 972 482 SNAP FITNESS Franchise Complaints
34. Dairy Queen 4,694 4,451 -243 DAIRY QUEEN Sues Franchisee for $13M Extortion Scheme
35. Baskin-Robbins 2,793 2,597 -196 ACE HARDWARE Franchise Complaints
36. Bonus Building Care 1,774 1,711 -63 BONUS BUILDING CARE Franchise Scam Complaints
37. The Maids 969 1,048 79
38. Jimmy John’s 559 1,020 461
39. Midas 1,469 1,309 -160
40. GNC 1,046 892 -154  Is the GNC Franchise a Great Opportunity?
41. System4 467 1,190 723  SYSTEM4 Commercial Cleaning Franchise Complaints
42. ServiceMaster Clean 3,041 3,043 2
43. Merry Maids 747 714 -33
44. Miracle-Ear 1,277 1,301 24
45. Super 8 1,888 1,874 -14
46. The UPS Store/MBE 4,454 4,390 -64 THE UPS STORE Franchise Complaints
47. Carl’s Jr. 616 671 55
48. Auntie Anne’s 723 861 138
49. Edible Arrangements 531 804 273 EDIBLE ARRANGEMENTS, Tariq Farid Franchise Complaints
50. Fantastic Sams 1,371 1,262 -109
51. Cruise Planners/American Express 730 947 217
52. Long John Silver’s 661 989 328
53. Sylvan Learning 794 784 -10
54. Cold Stone Creamery 1,387 1,163 -224 Cold Stone Creamery Gets Served by Franchisees
55. Meineke 845 860 15
56. Chem-Dry 2,679 2,198 -481
57. Popeyes 1,507 1,533 46
58. CruiseOne 510 685 175
59. Home Instead Senior Care 548 597 49 HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE Franchise Nightmare: Everybody Loses
60. AAMCO Transmissions 814 837 23
61. Proforma 561 679 118
62. Comfort Keepers 552 607 55 COMFORT KEEPERS Caregiver Bilked Elderly Man
63. Buffalo Wild Wings 302 473 171
64. Massage Envy 334 626 292 MASSAGE ENVY: Franchisee Fetish Afoot!
65. Novus Glass 259 223 -36
66. Choice Hotels 4,323 4,936 613 CHOICE HOTELS: Franchisees Sue for “Unfair & Deceptive Acts”
67. CiCi’s Pizza 597 609 12
68. Hilton Garden Inn 300 460 160
69. Heaven’s Best Carpet 1,226 1,268 42
70. Smoothie King 447 549 102
71. Wingstop 299 428 129
72. Gold’s Gym 467 452 -15
73. Country Inns & Suites 385 457 72
74. Minuteman Press 769 730 39
75. MRINetwork 826 706 -120
76. Rita’s Italian Ice 461 561 100
77. Batteries Plus 283 384 101
78. Keller Williams Realty 651 672 21
79. Wireless Zone 249 399 150
80. FastSigns Int’l. 418 449 31
81. Planet Fitness 179 336 157
82. Coffee News 696 677 -19
83. Ramada 584 537 -47
84. Maaco 425 438 13
85. Culver’s 355 412 57
86. Padgett Business Services 275 302 27
87. Goddard Systems 255 371 116
88. Visiting Angels 290 390 100
89. E.nopi 103 103 0
90. Coldwell Banker 2,531 2,091 -440
91. Moe’s Southwest Grill 359 422 63
92. Rooter-Man 391 469 78
93. Club Z! In-Home Tutoring 409 420 11
94. Hilton Hotels 175 194 19
95. Qdoba Mexican Grill 320 331 11
96. Home Helpers/Direct Link 699 658 -41 HOME HELPERS / DIRECT LINK Franchise Complaints
97. Senior Helpers 105 283 178
98. Expense Reduction Analysts 165 276 111
99. PuroClean 179 298 119
100. Thrifty Rent-A-Car 345 120 -225

Stop back often as our comments and links will be continually updated.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  WHICH FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES DESERVE TOP FRANCHISE STATUS?  WHICH DON’T… AND WHY?

Contact UnhappyFranchisee.com

Written by ADMIN · Filed Under ALL POSTS, SPOTLIGHT 1 

Comments

5 Responses to “Top 100 Franchise Opportunities 2011: Behind The Hype”

  1. gloryhole says:
    November 11, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    FUCK RITA’S now that place needs to be investigated, total fraud, you’ll lose everything!

  2. Derek Malam says:
    October 20, 2012 at 12:42 pm

    Don’t buy a mobility franchise from Ken Hollowell he is a conman as is Susan Barnes of Rockrose realty Inc

  3. Brenda Kidd says:
    December 5, 2012 at 12:47 am

    Resolved

  4. Fleece and Flush says:
    December 5, 2012 at 9:34 am

    This is the face of franchising! Fraud! Look at all the negatives in growth! Look at Snap-On! We know by the article in Forbes that it’s own successful franchisor denounces their ranking. He says Snap-On buys back their own sold franchises so they can cook the books on failure rates. So how many of these other franchisors are actually successful and not publishing FALSE information?

  5. CruzeDude says:
    March 21, 2013 at 8:53 am

    As a former Cruise Planner, I would throw caution to the wind if you are reading the above review. Yes, what is stated is accurate, however there are many strings attached. Not all is as fantastic as it seems. FACT: CP states emphatically that your customers are yours; however they market to them extensively with highly discounted products to benefit their business. FACT: Many promises and written guarantees are made that are never honored; when confronted the franchisee is ignored or dismissed. FACT: Questioning or challenging a statement or recommended business practice known to be unethical is NEVER acceptable as a franchisee; you will be verbally attacked by CP officers. FACT: You are working for a corporation that is in direct competition with you and profiting from your hard work.

    I say FACT as I have documented evidence to support these statements. I urge anyone that is considering this company to carefully examine all options before the outlay of $10k+. I was a franchisee for 3-years and left due to the unethical practices of CP. As they say, hindsight is 20/20 and I count myself lucky to have a thriving agency today. Many franchisee’s who started in a class of 20 when I did never made it and saw their business an monies go down the drain. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS COMPANY!

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