A New Leader in Franchising Emerges

For the first time in over a decade, Subway® did not top Entrepreneur’s annual Franchise 500® rankings. For 2008, it was the 7-Eleven® Inc. convenience store franchise that pushed the sub sandwich franchise back to second place.

Rounding out the top ten franchises for 2008 are: Dunkin’ Donuts®, Pizza Hut® Inc., McDonald’s®, Sonic® Drive In Restaurants, KFC Corp., Intercontinental Hotels Group, Domino’s Pizza® LLC and RE/MAX® Int’l Inc.

Each year, Entrepreneur examines franchise companies that submit full Uniform Franchise Offering Circulars (UFOCs) or Canadian disclosure documents. The franchise must have at least ten units, at least one being U.S.-based, be actively seeking new franchises in the United States and cannot be in Chapter 11. All companies are judged by the same objective criteria, which includes financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of system.

In addition to the 500 list, Entrepreneur also evaluates the franchises in specific categories, such as low-cost, global, home-based, fastest-growing and new franchises.