Editorial Policy

No franchisor pays to rank here

This is the standard every page on FranPicks is held to, stated once, so you don't have to take our word for it on every article.

Bound annual index volumes shelved in a row above grey filing cabinets whose drawers are labelled with date ranges — A newspaper index: one bound volume per year, drawers labelled by date range. An FDD works the same way. Last year's is a different document, which is why every figure here carries the year it came from. Element5 Digital via Pexels

The rule

A franchise's position on any FranPicks ranking, Best under $150k, Lowest royalty, Best food franchises, Highest disclosed revenue, is a direct function of its FDD-disclosed numbers: total investment, royalty percentage, or Item 19 unit revenue. Nothing else moves the ranking. A franchisor cannot pay, sponsor, or negotiate a better position on any list. If FranPicks earns a referral fee from a brand's consultant or financing program, that relationship is disclosed on the page and has zero effect on where the brand ranks.

Where the data comes from

Every U.S. franchisor selling franchises must register a Franchise Disclosure Document. We source the investment range (Item 7), franchise fee (Item 5), ongoing royalty and ad-fund percentages (Item 6), financial requirements, and average unit revenue where disclosed (Item 19), from the franchisor's FDD or its own current public disclosure. We paraphrase the numbers; we don't reproduce FDD prose verbatim, since that text belongs to the franchisor.

Each brand page states the FDD year the figures came from and the date we last reviewed them. FDDs update annually, and we re-verify on the same cadence, so a stale number doesn't sit quietly on the site for years.

A hand marking corrections on a printed page with a red pen — A figure changes here only after it's checked against the franchisor's current filing. When it does, the page's review date changes with it. Photo via Pexels

When a franchisor doesn't disclose something

Item 19 (the revenue disclosure) is optional under FTC rules, and most franchisors skip it. When a brand doesn't publish one, its page says so plainly instead of estimating a number we can't support. The same goes for any other figure a franchisor chooses not to disclose: an honest gap, never a filled-in guess.

Which franchises get a page

We build standalone pages for franchises people actually search for by name, the brands with real, verified search demand. A high cost-per-click on a brand's keyword without real search volume behind it (common among hotel and real-estate-brokerage franchises, for instance) isn't enough on its own to earn a dedicated page; those brands may appear as comparison rows instead.

Corrections

If a number here doesn't match a franchisor's current FDD, tell us at hello@franpicks.com and we'll re-verify and correct it, with the page's last-reviewed date updated to reflect the fix.

Not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any franchisor

Franchise names on this site are used to identify the specific brand being discussed. FranPicks is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any franchisor named here.

Not financial or legal advice

Everything on FranPicks is informational, not financial, legal, or investment advice. Read the franchisor's complete FDD and consult a franchise attorney or CPA before signing anything or committing money.