Entrepreneur.com recently released their 2009 Franchise 500. A list that ranks the top 500 franchise opportunities.
The top 10 include (start-up costs):
- Subway ($78.6K-238.3K)
- McDonald’s ($950.2K-1.8M)
- Liberty Tax Service ($53.8K-66.9K)
- Sonic Drive In ($1.2M-3.2M)
- Intercontinental Hotels Group (Varies)
- Ace Hardware ($243.5K-1M)
- Pizza Hut ($638K-2.97M)
- UPS Store ($171.2K-280K)
- Circle K ($161K-1.4M)
- Papa John’s ($135.8K-491.6K)
While I have never heard of Liberty Tax Service and Circle K, the other 8 franchise seem reasonable with what I would expect to top the list. Obviously most of them are fast food joints, which makes sense because these people will always have business regardless of the economy.
Subway to me is a no brainer if only for the fact that I eat there 1-2 times a week. Also Subway is expected to surpass McDonald’s for number of outlets in 5 years. If that is not an accomplishment, then I don’t know what is. According to their CEO, 2008 was their best year! No surprise that there are public stock holdings for the company.
Another thing that stood out to me was that, out of the top 10, Sonic seemed to have the highest start-up costs. To me it seems weird because all there really is to the building itself is the kitchen, and the rest is outdoors; however, perhaps the wiring for each car station is more expensive than I think.
Looking to buy into any franchises in the near future?
Entrepreneur.com – 2009 Franchise 500