Every year, Franchise Direct posts our list of Top 100 Global Franchises. The ranking is an insightful snapshot look at the past year in franchising through the lens of many of the world’s biggest internationally-operating franchise brands. (To be eligible franchises must be operating in at least two countries.)
But while size, unit growth and sales numbers are important, the Top 100 is an attempt to go beyond the numbers.
That’s why the formula used to tabulate the ranking also takes into account whether the franchises help prospective franchisees fund their franchise dream, as well as how they give back to their communities via local programs or charity work. It also takes into account the franchises’ longevity.
For this, the 2020 edition, the data gathering process started in early fall 2019, covering the year-to-year span from 2018 to 2019.
All effort was taken in finding the most accurate data possible. Data is gathered from company submitted data, financial filings, franchise disclosure documents (FDDs), and other published industry sources. The data collected for each franchise is entered into a proprietary computer formula making the outcome as objective as possible.
IMPORTANT
Please note the Top 100 Global Franchises ranking is not intended to endorse, advertise, or recommend any particular franchise system nor is it a definitive list.
More on the methodology can be viewed here.
As always, competition was fierce for the limited amount of spots.
For perspective, 100 only represents about 3% of the total number of franchise concepts operating in the United States currently—and not all of the franchises in the ranking have operations in the U.S.
The Top of the List
#1 Goes on a Technological Spending Spree
It was close, but McDonald’s retains its place atop the ranking. McDonald’s pace of growth has slowed—not especially surprising considering there are well over 37,000 locations worldwide. However, the food franchise has been evolving in hopes meeting its customers’ needs, particularly in the area of tech.
McDonald’s went through a technology acquisition phase in 2019. The buying started in March, with McDonald’s acquiring Dynamic Yield, a personalization and decision logic technology firm based in New York and Tel Aviv.
The deal, valued at $300 million, is evidence of the burger franchise’s focus on technology as part of its growth plans.
With this acquisition, we’re expanding both our ability to increase the role technology and data will play in our future and the speed with which we’ll be able to implement our vision of creating more personalized experiences for our customers.
Roughly a week after the Dynamic Yield acquisition, McDonald’s bought a 10% stake in Plexure, a New Zealand mobile app developer. McDonald’s says it bought a stake in the app company, which it already had an existing relationship with (the company is the developer its app in nearly 50 countries outside of the U.S.), to improve back-end and front-end features, customer functionality and customer targeting.
Then in September, McDonald’s Corp. bought artificial intelligence startup Apprente, which uses its A.I. capabilities in the area of speech recognition and automated voice assisting. Like the Dynamic Yield acquisition, the technology gained in the Apprente deal is expected to be utilized mainly in the drive-thru—but later via kiosks and mobile devices as well.
McDonald’s followed the Apprente deal up with one with Dutch company Adyen NV in December for mobile app payments. Adyen already processes payments for companies like Domino’s (#6) and Dunkin’ (#7).
Also on the tech front, the franchise is now even giving potential employees the chance to start their applications via voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Assistant.
According to McDonald’s, the process, named Apply Thru, is the first voice-initiated application process. Apply Thru is currently available in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Stay tuned, the company plans to expand the capability into other countries.
Headlines in 2019 weren’t all tech related for the fast food franchise, however.
Also in March, the company informed the National Restaurant Association that it will not participate in advocacy efforts designed to prevent minimum wage increases.
In a letter from McDonald's VP of Government Relations Genna Gent, the franchise stated:
We believe increases should be phased in and that all industries should be treated the same way. The conversation about wages is an important one; it’s one we wish to advance, not impede.
The stance is a reversal of sorts from its prior participation with the National Restaurant Association in lobbying against formal minimum wage increases in more than 30 states.
In response, Mollie O’Dell, vice president of communications at the National Restaurant Association, said via a statement:
McDonald’s is a valued member of the National Restaurant Association, and we look forward to continuing our partnership.
#2 Explores New Vegetarian Options Along with Several Other Franchises
In 2019, KFC sold out both of its plant-based chicken trial runs. The first trial was a day-only event for vegan nuggets and boneless wings made by plant-based company Beyond Meat at an Atlanta area location. The second, conducted in Ontario, Canada, offered a meatless chicken sandwich and popcorn chicken created by plant-based food company Lightlife.
KFC will now expand the trial for the Beyond Meat chicken nuggets to Nashville, Tennessee and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The success of both these tests—and the expansion—are indicative the growing demand for vegetarian (and vegan) options from food franchises. But these vegetarian menus aren’t just for vegetarians.
As noted in our Food Franchise Industry Report 2019, food franchise customers as a whole have shown a shift towards healthier options with an occasional caloric splurge. To that end, Liz Matthews, who serves as global chief food innovation officer for Taco Bell—another franchise under the Yum Brands umbrella—says, “We believe that vegetarian food shouldn’t be a compromise; it shouldn’t be limited to one item, and it shouldn’t be just for vegetarians.”
Speaking of Taco Bell (#11), did you know it was the first fast food, or quick-serve, restaurant to offer items certified by the American Vegetarian Association? The certification happened in 2015, and in September 2019 it took its vegetarian offerings one step further by rolling out its first-ever dedicated in-store vegetarian menu board.
While other fast food restaurants are just now dipping their toes in the meatless space, Taco Bell has long been a friend to vegetarians. The bean burrito has been on the menu for 50 years and is Taco Bell’s second best-selling item.
Other high-profile food franchise vegetarian menu item tests during the past year include McDonald’s test run of its P.L.T. (Plant-Lettuce-Tomato) burger. #5 Burger King's trial with its plant-based Impossible Whopper went so well the item is now a featured part of the menu.
#3 Reaches 7th Consecutive Year of Record Growth
Marriott International signed 815 hotel deals in 2019, which according to the company represents over 136,000 rooms.
The hotelier opened 516 properties during the year.
By staying true to our growth philosophy and continuously responding to the evolving preferences and lifestyles of travelers, we are poised for a successful 2020 and beyond.
And those evolving preferences include experiential travel.
Leisure travel is growing fast right now because people are looking for new experiences and they don’t mind spending on them. It is the first time in history that the purchase of experiences is now outstripping the purchase of goods. We have also seen significant growth in weekend business and we call them ‘staycations’. People check in a hotel in the same city they live so that they can chill and relax.
There isn’t a region in the world where Marriott isn’t growing, but Asia is an especially important region for the hotel franchise.
As Smith said in a recent interview
Asia is the fastest-growing part in our company. And within Asia the growth engines are China and India. We're growing at least 20% a year here in India [alone]. New hotels, new jobs and new talent are growing. I think growth is pretty much the biggest story that we have in this part of the world and we are looking to leverage this opportunity.
Selected Highlights on Other Top 100 Franchises
You may have noticed the huge jump for Circle K (#9) in the ranking. Four years ago, Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (the parent company) started a four-year process of rebranding over 7,000 of its stores around the world to the Circle K name.
As a result, the convenience store franchise is up over 60 positions from last year, mainly because of how that dramatic uptick in locations under the brand name gets input into the ranking formula. The Circle K rebranding process is expected to be complete in fiscal 2020.
Four years ago, we noted McDonald’s launching All Day Breakfast to its menu to bolster sales. This past year, Wendy’s (#15) became the next fast food franchise expanding its breakfast daypart.
Launching breakfast in our U.S. restaurants nationwide provides incredible growth opportunities. We are well-positioned to pursue it. We believe we have the right team and structure in place, and we put Wendy’s fan favorites on our breakfast menu to set us apart from the competition.
Wendy’s breakfast expansion is actually a re-expansion of sorts. Wendy’s offered breakfast on a widespread basis in the 1980s, but it was discontinued when the preparation of the breakfast items were taking too long. Since then, the fast food franchise kept its breakfast menu on a test basis in roughly 300 of its U.S. locations up until the decision to re-expand.
A little further down the ranking, tutoring franchise Kumon makes a nice jump up to #20. Founded in 1958 in Japan, the math and reading enrichment company has over 26,000 locations in 55 countries. To aid in its operation, Kumon North America moved into a new corporate headquarters in October. The facility is located in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.
Sweden-based pet franchise Husse (#43) was honored as a 2019-20 regional winner of a World Branding Award. The World Branding Awards are the premier awards of the World Branding Forum, a non-profit organization that “aims and activities are to advance standards in the branding industry for the good of the industry as well as consumers.”
Anytime Fitness (#53) literally went where no other franchise has gone before. The fitness franchise opened a studio on Antarctica21’s newest cruise ship, Magellan Explorer, making it the first franchise with representation on all seven continents!
We’re truly taking our mission, ‘To improve the self-esteem of the world,’ to another level. It’s something our brand takes incredibly seriously, and it’s up to our leadership team to make our vision a reality. Being the only franchise to operate on all seven continents and land a gym on the coldest, windiest, driest region of the world was no easy feat but was a necessary step in contributing to our mission.
“We expect to grow by another 50 next year, and that’s a good number,” A&W (#78) CEO Kevin Bazner said in September 2019. The franchise—that has now entered its second century of operation—is largely believed to be on a stable growth path following the brand’s split from Yum Brands about nine years ago.
We’re in an environment where we don’t need to be in a hurry and can do things right through thoughtful growth.
Pressto (#94) expanded to two new countries in 2019: Kazakhstan and Malta. The latest additions bring the Spanish dry cleaning and laundry franchise up to 27 countries operated in.
Like Dunkin’ Donuts now goes by simply Dunkin’, Edible Arrangements (#96) is dropping the second word from its name and moving into the next phase of its evolution. In a release, the company stated the main purpose of its new stores and products will be “extending the benefits of natural health and wellness to help its customers live better and treat themselves well by leveraging the ancient benefits of super foods.”
The company’s wares were already being used as gifts, so Edible is launching Gifts & Treats Edible stores that “will feature an exciting new range of snacks and treats.” Part of that range is the franchisor’s new Incredible Edibles® hemp CBD line. Of which, the initial offering is a proprietary, full spectrum hemp-based, non-psychoactive CBD powder.
The official announcement of the brand expansion was announced in October. It was paired with the news that Tariq Farid has reassumed CEO duties for the company, among other C-level appointments.
New on the Scene
Paul Davis Restoration (#47) leads the new entrants to the Top 100 ranking. The cleaning franchise, founded in 1966, certifies its franchisees in the areas of emergency restoration, reconstruction and remodeling.
Two pizza franchises also are making their debut on this year’s ranking: Boston's Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar (#71) and Round Table Pizza (#80).
The fourth and final newcomer to the Top 100 in 2020 is #84 Gloria Jean’s Gourmet Coffees. The coffee franchise creates its specialty flavored coffees with Rainforest Alliance Certified™ coffees. The Rainforest Alliance works with farmers throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia to conserve natural resources and to protect forests, rivers and other wildlife habitats.
We Need More Room!
It seems like every year it gets tougher to make the ranking. Unfortunately, only 100 franchises can make the Top 100 despite there being far more than 100 worthy franchises. Here's some more fran-tastic faces that we want to recognize for continuing to make their mark in an incredibly diverse and ever-changing industry.
FRANCHISE | RANK |
| Little Caesars | 101 |
| CertaPro Painters | 102 |
| Gold's Gym | 103 |
| Café Barbera | 104 |
| Auntie Anne's | 105 |
| Freshii | 106 |
| Vanguard Cleaning Systems | 107 |
| Maaco | 108 |
| Panera | 109 |
| Church's Chicken | 110 |
| Moe's Southwest Grill | 111 |
| Proforma | 112 |
| Chili's | 113 |
| Jani-King | 114 |
| uBreakiFix | 115 |
| Lizarran | 116 |
| Plato's Closet | 117 |
| Pearle Vision | 118 |
| Home Instead Senior Care | 119 |
| MaidPro | 120 |
| Engel & Völkers | 121 |
| F45 Training | 122 |
| Home Helpers Home Care | 123 |
| AAMCO Transmission | 124 |
| Jamba Juice | 125 |
Next up in our report is our news and notes from the past year in franchising.
Headlines include: Major high-level corporate changes at several franchises, and a legal ledger with the latest on the joint employment liability of franchisors and state legislation that could affect franchisors.
You can also jump to our coverage of:
International franchising, with a franchise industry spotlight for the Australia market, which has become a major player in the franchising world. There’s also a summary of new franchise laws going into effect this year to keep an eye out for.
The sections of the report can be accessed via the links above, as well as with the “previous” and “next” buttons at the bottom of each report page.