How Many Franchise Business Opportunities Are There?
The number of Franchise Opportunities seems endless
It seems like there’s no end to the number of franchise business opportunities, no end to the types of businesses and no end to the capital requirements (as far as how much money it takes to get started). How many franchise business opportunities exist?
Great question, but no great answer
While we can’t use a flip answer like ‘how high is high’, the real answer to your question is not too far from that old phrase. The truth is no one knows the answer. The best guess for the total number of franchise business opportunities is in the 3,000 – 4,000 range, but there are so many variables that even that broad range can be a shaky bet. Here’s why.
First, while every franchise is to comply with the federal government’s FTC franchise rule, that does not mean the franchise is registered with any agency, and certainly not with the FTC, because counter to the beliefs of many, the FTC rule does not include federal registration as part of its regulations.
Second, most states recognize a franchise offering as legal in its boundaries if the franchisor meets FTC disclosure guidelines, so again, no state registry is demanded. A number of states however, have established both business opportunity and franchise registration laws that go beyond the FTC requirements and in those cases (perhaps in most states, the filing would be with and through the secretary of state office) a compilation of franchises operating that state would be available.
Third, and this might be the most complicated of all, who is to tell which franchise active or inactive? Hundreds of new franchise offerings are created every year across the United States, but many never sell or open a franchised unit and hence, never update their paperwork (federal or state) and are defunct. Still others may remain inactive for years and then come alive if a prospective franchisee induces them to reactivate their paperwork.
Still An Unknown
So, the answer is an unknown. But here’s what seems to be an acceptable range. Think in terms of roughly 100 industries being represented by all franchise business opportunities (hamburgers, pizza, printing, dry cleaning, education, etc.), and then perhaps a total of 3,000 to 3,500 active at any given time. For excellent purchased data and intelligence, you can also look to FranData as a resource.