Franchise Business Review

March 4, 2024

Franchise Business Review

The Flywheel of Franchising

Establishing authority in franchise research and data analytics

What any franchising organization that wishes to dominate its space needs to establish is a healthy relationship with company numbers. Research and subsequent analytics both play a pivotal role in orchestrating the insights that drive success for both franchisors and franchisees.

To maintain a high rate of development, the company must commit to meticulous data analysis. The ability to harness cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence is also needed to unravel intricate patterns, offering a panoramic view of the franchising landscape.

Yet, it’s not merely about algorithms and analytics. The soul of success lies in a cozy embrace of genuine franchisee experiences. Cultivating an authentic connection with franchise owners, understanding their journeys, and unraveling the nuances of their satisfaction is paramount.

It’s about more than just numbers; it’s about stories, challenges, and triumphs that shape the franchise ecosystem. Because within this ecosystem is a silent star using these analytical insights to help these companies thrive.

In the realm of franchise enlightenment, Franchise Business Review (FBR) stands as the undisputed premier publication, meticulously illuminating the diverse enterprise of business franchises and franchisees across North America.

This company excels in helping franchises scale and self-assess. Its research and analytics strike a harmonious balance that elevates a brand’s quantitative prowess to new heights while maintaining its down-to-earth ethos of empathy and understanding.

Success for FBR means facilitating data-driven decisions that intertwine seamlessly with the narratives of the franchisees it works with. It means creating an ecosystem where brands flourish, and partnerships thrive, painting a portrait of an industry transformed by insights, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to the human side of business.

A Visionary Foundation and 18 Years of Evolution

Established in 2005, Franchise Business Review emerged from Founder and CEO Eric Stites’ background in a franchise marketing company, where he identified a crucial gap in franchise recruitment while working with the Dunkin Donuts franchise.

He discovered that, especially for the largest franchisors, the challenge lay not in attracting potential franchisees but in facilitating their journey through the education and validation process.

This realization sparked the idea of serving franchise owners by providing insights into critical aspects such as training, support, marketing, and operational effectiveness. FBR became a beacon for franchises, bridging the gap and fostering a community-driven validation process.

Since then, FBR has forged a distinctive edge and unique position within its industry, which stems from its extensive database, boasting the world’s largest collection of franchise owner satisfaction data cultivated over 18 years.

This rich resource serves as a compass for franchisors, offering profound insights into operational best practices. By conducting in-depth research, FBR empowers franchise brands to understand their position in the landscape, identify areas for improvement, and enhance the franchisor-franchisee relationship.

“As an independent third-party research company, franchisees, when we survey them, will certainly tell us a lot of things they’re not necessarily telling their franchisor, so [we] start as an operational tool to help a franchisor better that franchisee-franchisor relationship,” Stites says.

According to Stites, these surveys also become great opportunities for franchisees to share their experiences, communicate ideas, and have their voices heard.

A Holistic Approach to Leveraging Franchise Data

Data dominates today’s world, so of course, Franchise Business Review leverages technology to enhance the results it produces for both itself and its clients. With a focus on review-based content, the publication has a distinct advantage, particularly in search engine rankings.

“All the content that we put out is reviews provided by franchisees… And so, the search engines, Google in particular, really emphasize any kind of review-based content. So, that gives us a huge advantage over the 1000s of other franchise information websites out there,” Stites explains.

The emphasis on genuine franchisee reviews provides a comprehensive understanding of brand performance. This approach not only educates prospective franchisees but also serves as a powerful recruitment tool for brands with high satisfaction scores, which FBR can seamlessly integrate into a larger marketing operation.

For brands with high satisfaction scores, advertising and marketing opportunities become available. FBR’s revenue model revolves around research, with franchise companies paying for surveys of their franchise owners, forming two-thirds of the revenue stream. The remaining third is made up of these high-caliber company advertisements.

Notably, FBR ensures a transparent process by adhering to a non-pay-to-play model, where brands must undergo the survey process before advertising on the site.

FBR’s robust data collection methodology involves surveys conducted online, offering franchise owners a platform to share their experiences comprehensively.

Over time, the focus has expanded to cover a larger scope of the franchisee experience. “It used to just be an annual survey,” Stites begins, “we’re doing much more in-depth surveying throughout the lifecycle of franchise owners, as well as employee engagement surveys.”

Armed with pulse surveys and in-depth analysis, Franchise Business Review is taking a holistic approach to franchise development by incorporating survey results with key franchise disclosure data points to produce valuable insights.

Simultaneously, FBR remains open to the more cutting-edge methods that current technology makes possible.

“AI is obviously having a big impact… those tools are going to help us gain more insights from our research to help our clients really understand what’s going on,” Stites says, expressing the company’s open-mindedness towards contemporary data analysis techniques.

Pioneering the Future of the Franchise Community

Franchise Business Review’s insights are renowned as the true criteria of excellence in franchising.

They have garnered the company high praise and recognition in the industry. Currently, the company has secured enough authority to recognize other brands annually with its own Franchisee Satisfaction Award. This award has only been awarded to franchises ranked within the Top 200 of their respective industries.

Regular awards throughout the year recognize achievements in various industry segments and special interests, highlighting the most profitable and innovative franchises.

The rigorous qualification process ensures that only brands with outstanding franchisee satisfaction scores make the cut. At the same time, having its awards gain such prestige only further reinforces the notion that FBR is the voice of franchising, an industry-wide flywheel that all franchisors can and should engage with.

Every quarter, FBR distributes The Franchise Buyer’s Guide, which, at this point, can be seen as the Consumer Reports of franchising. It provides a printed compendium of FBR’s content, aiding prospective entrepreneurs in making informed decisions.

By educating individuals on best practices and showcasing brands with high franchisee satisfaction, the guide becomes an invaluable resource for those exploring business ownership through franchising.

On the community front, FBR aims to bring together prospective entrepreneurs, fostering a shared space for knowledge and ideas. By enhancing education and building a strong community, FBR aspires to guide individuals through the intricate journey of franchise exploration.

“There’s so much opportunity to really create that community of prospective entrepreneurs and have them be able to share notes and ideas and questions on what business ownership is all about,” Stites says.

Stites passionately emphasizes that franchising needs to be more understood, not for the people in the industry but for the average person, the potential entrepreneur who wants to get into business.

“Often people think of franchising as the food industry, and they’re familiar with McDonald’s, the big brands that are out there. But I think most people don’t understand that franchising goes across hundreds of different industry sectors. And, you know, whatever business model and industry you can think of, there’s several franchises probably operating in that space,” Stites explains.

Ultimately, the true essence of franchising lies in the hidden details and the abundance of opportunity that those details–if properly acted upon–can lead to.

Half of FBR’s mission is to debunk myths and showcase the diverse spectrum of opportunities beyond traditional fast-food franchises. The other half is to provide franchises at large with a one-stop shop for the profitable insights hidden within their operations.

By focusing on real franchisee experiences, FBR serves as a guiding light, ensuring that aspiring entrepreneurs enter the world of franchising with clarity, informed expectations, and a comprehensive understanding of the true nature of business ownership.

Franchise Business Review transcends the conventional and emerges as a stalwart companion for both franchisors and franchisees, navigating the intricate pathways of success in the vibrant world of franchising.