Largest franchised brands double yearly sales gains

Franchise industry adds more than $28.5 billion in global sales, a 4.6 percent rise led by the 10 largest franchises that grew sales by $14.3 billion. New CKE Restaurants CEO Jason Marker details plans to further differentiate Hardee's and Carl's Jr.--one of four exclusive CEO interviews included. Online database launches today, listing all 500 brands by worldwide sales

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Franchise Times

Oct 01, 2018, 08:00 ET

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The 200 largest U.S.-based franchisors grew their combined annual sales by more than $28.5 billion or 4.6 percent last year, to $644.8 billion, with most categories seeing across-the-board gains well above the previous year, according to the newly released Franchise Times Top 200+, an exclusive ranking of the 500 largest franchises. That was up from $616.2 billion and a growth rate of 3.4 percent the prior year.

The 10 largest franchised brands added $14.3 billion in sales, a 5 percent surge compared to that cohort's $7.8 billion or 2.8 percent sales growth the prior year. The top 10 now account for more than $300 billion in annual sales—that's almost half of the entire top 200, which recorded sales of $644.8 billion in 2017.

Those numbers are a new high-water mark for the ranking, which is the result of a five-month research and reporting effort that leads to the most credible and objective franchise ranking available, said Franchise Times Editor-in-Chief Beth Ewen.

"There was some impressive growth on the list this year, but the strongest business category was by far personal services, driven by high-growth gym, massage and education concepts. No single category declined in sales, but printing and automotive categories were very nearly flat and retail was only slightly better," said Nicholas Upton, restaurants editor at Franchise Times who wrote the lead article for the project. "The biggest grower was Orangetheory Fitness, which grew sales by more than 60 percent. The biggest decliner was Liberty Tax Service, which lost more than 10 percent of sales."

McDonald's retains its spot atop the Franchise Times Top 200+, breaking the $90 billion sales mark for the first time as it added more than $5 billion or 7 percent to its topline sales, even while growing units by just 0.9 percent. The fourth largest franchise, Burger King, was also noted for adding $1.8 billion in new sales, a 10.2 percent jump.

In an exclusive interview, CKE Restaurants' new CEO Jason Marker describes his plan to separate the conjoined twins of Hardee's and Carl's Jr., which posted combined sales of $4.4 billion last year. It is one of four exclusive CEO interviews included in this year's ranking.

Franchise Times Fastest-Growing Industry Sectors

  1. Personal services up 11.4%
  2. Health & medical up 9.3%
  3. Home services up 9.1%
  4. Business services up 7.9%
  5. Hotels & hospitality up 5.2%

Franchise Times Top 10 Franchises by Worldwide Sales

  1. McDonald's; $90.9 billion sales, +7% from prior year; 37,241 units, +0.9%
  2. 7-Eleven; $85 billion* sales, +3% from prior year; 64,600 units, +4.5%
  3. KFC; $24.5 billion sales, +5.5% from prior year; 21,487 units, +4.3%
  4. Burger King; $20 billion sales, +10.2% from prior year; 16,767 units, +6.5%
  5. Subway; $17.3 billion sales, +1.8% from prior year; 43,912 units, -4.4%
  6. Ace Hardware; $15.9 billion sales, +6.5% from prior year; 5,229 units, +2.7%
  7. Domino's; $12.2 billion sales, +12.4% from prior year; 14,856 units, +7.6%
  8. Pizza Hut; $12 billion sales, +0.1% from prior year; 16,748 units, +2.1%
  9. Marriott; $11.5 billion* sales, +7% from prior year; 647 units, +3.4%
  10. RE/MAX; $10.9 billion sales; +6% from prior year; 7,841 units, +5.1%

*Franchise Times estimate

Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest Growers by Sales

  1. Orangetheory Fitness: 63.7% increase from prior year
  2. Hand & Stone: 32.7%
  3. HomeVestors: 28.8%
  4. Tropical Smoothie Cafe: 25%
  5. Jackson Hewitt: 23.6%
  6. Budget Blinds: 22%
  7. Planet Fitness: 21.1%
  8. Freddy's: 20.7%
  9. Anytime Fitness: 19.2%
  10. Dutch Bros. Coffee: 19.2%

Franchise Times Top 10 Fastest Growers by Units

  1. Orangetheory Fitness: 47.4% increase from prior year
  2. Realty One Group: 45.3%
  3. HomeVestors: 27.1%
  4. Circle K: 19.2%
  5. Freddy's: 19.1%
  6. Hand & Stone: 17.6%
  7. Eye Level: 16.6%
  8. Tropical Smoothie Cafe: 16.5%
  9. Planet Fitness: 15.6%
  10. Zone: 15.2%

ABOUT THE FRANCHISE TIMES TOP 200+
The Franchise Times Top 200+® is the only ranking by systemwide sales and units of the largest 500 U.S.-based franchise brands. Published in the October issue and available in a searchable database online, the Franchise Times Top 200+ also analyzes industry sectors based on percentage change in sales growth, reports the 10 fastest-growing franchises by four different measures, and includes exclusive news stories about the biggest names in franchising. The rankings and full report, and the searchable online database, are available at www.franchisetimes.com.

SOURCE Franchise Times

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