Over the past 20 years we've worked with more than 1,300 franchisors who understand the value of franchisee surveys, but we’ve also encountered many who buy into myths and misconceptions that simply don’t hold water. Here, we separate fact from fiction.
Discover what franchisors get wrong about franchisee surveys. Separate fact from fiction with these 10 franchisee survey myths debunked.
Get the inside scoop on the findings of FBR's 2026 Franchise Industry Report and understand the trends driving and hindering franchise growth for both large systems and emerging brands.
Download the 2026 Franchising Outlook Report for the most comprehensive look at the franchise economy and the strategic implications for franchisors.
See what research revealed about the franchising outlook for 2026 and the strategic growth and performance implications for franchise leaders.
Understand the franchise performance benchmarks from critical operational areas that directly correlate to franchise growth, including the #1 indicator: trust.
Image One used trust-building techniques and communication strategies to raise financial & fee satisfaction scores by 15%. See how they did it.
Franchise Business Review offers a free franchisee survey. Find out how and why we do it and how to get your free survey with no catch!
Download a free, customizable digital business card template, complete with step-by-step instructions on how to easily add it to your phone, to making networking easy at the IFA Convention.
Discover the 5 most-read articles you may have missed from 2025. Each is packed with expert tips and insights that are just as relevant in 2026.
For many of us, New Year’s resolutions revolve around getting — or staying — healthy. But regardless of personal resolutions, for franchisors it also means building a healthier brand in 2026.
What’s in store for the franchise sector? Franchise thought leaders share their top predictions for 2026. Each year we ask [...]
Professionalization, capital selectivity, labor pressures, and rising operator expectations will have an outsized influence on system performance in the coming year. These forces are raising the baseline for what it takes to succeed as a franchisor and reshaping how brands structure their teams, attract investment, support franchisees, and protect profitability in 2026.
When conflict inevitably arises, having a conflict resolution framework in place for approaching tough conversations will help ensure franchise leaders and franchisees are aligned, respected, and heard.
Take a look at us now! With 20 years under our belts, FBR's brand refresh brings all of that together to better tell the full story of who we are and what we stand for.
With high-profile franchise systems making headlines for exploiting franchises with unfair and deceptive practices, how can brands that foster strong, supportive franchisor-franchisee relationships differentiate themselves? Here are five things you can do to set your brand apart.
The Aqua-Tots Franchise launched a customer-facing app that improved their FSI tech score by 61% in only 2 years — here’s how they did it.
Franchisors often ask us how they can encourage their franchisees to participate and boost survey participation rates. We recently unearthed this 2019 video of Charles Watson, CEO of Tropical Smoothie Cafe, inviting his franchisees to take our survey, and we couldn’t help but share!
Discover how franchisors can integrate Franchise Business Review (FBR) insights into the EOS® framework to improve decision-making, enhance satisfaction, and drive business growth.
Learn how the Culver’s franchise system uses the franchisee feedback for their annual business planning.
What’s in store for the franchise sector in 2025? Franchise thought leaders share their top predictions.
Courtney Stillings assumes newly expanded role as Franchise Business Review's VP of Growth. Read the coverage from FranchiseWire.
Looking for your next page-turner? Try out these recommendations from FBR president Michelle Rowan.
Before you decide to postpone your franchisee survey, consider the potential risks of delaying or neglecting your annual franchisee satisfaction survey.
Would you be ready if a crisis hit your franchise tomorrow? Implement these steps today to ensure you’re ready when the inevitable occurs.
As part of their annual roundup of the most influential and successful women in the franchising industry, 1851 Franchise spoke with Franchise Business Review’s President and COO, Michelle Rowan.
Three franchising lessons we can take away from Queen Elizabeth in the latest season of Netflix's The Crown.
Franchise thought leaders share 12 things they think will happen in 2024. See the common themes that emerged.
Learn four ways actively listening to franchisee feedback – even if it's negative – can make a positive difference.
FBR Client Consultant Mike Conlan shares a fresh perspective on franchising as a first-time attendee of FLDC.
Dave Hansen of Client Tether and FBR president & COO Michelle Rowan dig into the complexities of the franchisee-franchisor relationship and why trust is the most important thing for franchisors to get right.
FBR's President & COO Recognized by IFA’s Women’s Franchise Committee for exemplary leadership in franchising
The International Franchise Association’s (IFA) Convention is THE franchising event of the year. FBR's President, Michelle Rowan, share a few tips she's picked up over the years for making the most of your time there - no matter if you're a seasoned veteran or first time attendee.
Franchisors and franchise suppliers weigh in with tips on how to best prepare your franchise for a recession in 2023.
Franchisors and suppliers across the franchise community share their personal experience and best practices for franchise founders.
Emily George reviews The Wealthy Franchisee by Scott Greenberg. See the takeaways that will help you take your business or career to the next level.
What were the big takeaways from the Faegre Summit? Emily George breaks down the hot topics that franchisors were buzzing about.
Peer groups are a recognized and respected tactic used by franchise brands to facilitate internal knowledge sharing and invigorate their system. They are a proactive mechanism for franchise systems that want to truly leverage the collective knowledge and experience to improve unit results and brand performance. But even in the best systems, peer groups can eventually start to lose their effectiveness. If your peer groups are no longer functioning as effectively as they should, these five tips can help reinvigorate them.
Stop fighting your franchisee association. Learn how to turn it into a driver of collaboration, feedback, and growth.
Collecting and organizing financial information for franchisees for the valuation process is like staging a home for sale. The same rule applies to franchisee satisfaction.
Celebrating International Women's Day with some of the amazing resources to help women in franchising connect and succeed.
What is the outlook for franchising in 2022? Read FBR's industry report based on data from over 31,000 franchise owners across 350 brands, 6,000 employees at both the corporate office and unit-level, and 200 franchise executives.
FBR surveyed nearly 30,000 franchise business owners, thousands of corporate and unit-level employees, and hundreds of franchise leaders to fully understand the current state of franchising and expectations for growth of the franchise sector in 2022.
FBR presents the key findings and takeaways from our research on the current state of franchising and the expectations for growth in 2022.
What does the future hold for franchising in 2022? Thought leaders share their franchise predictions and reflect on 2021.
What are the best leadership lessons from Ted Lasso? These are gems to live by for franchisors and anyone who wants to be a better leader.
Image One's Tim Conn talks about why they continue to survey their franchisees year after year, which question means the most to him, and how Image One summarizes the data highlights to help candidates understand the strengths of their system through FBR’s independent lens.
FBR Client Consultant Courtney Stillings recaps takeaways from franchise leaders about the future of franchising from the 2021 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference in Las Vegas.
Learn how Fibrenew uses their recognition as an FBR award-winner to grab the attention of candidates and, in turn, how they use that third-party validation as a powerful tool to educate candidates about what to expect.
In this conversation with Kitchen Solvers' Zach Nolte he explains how they use FBR’s survey to put quantifiable metrics around franchisee satisfaction, and use the survey data to show their franchisees that they are listening and making changes based on their feedback.
Tim Courtney, VP of franchise development for PuroClean sat down with FBR to talk about the opportunity he saw when he first joined the team to capture the enthusiasm of PuroClean’s owners and turn that into an advantage on both the development and operations sides.
Randy Shacka, president of Two Men and a Truck talked with FBR about how they deliver on satisfaction, trust, and values by being intentional and building strong relationships.
The travel sector took a major hit during the pandemic, but that’s not stopping Cruise Planners. Founder & CEO Michelle Fee shares how pent-up demand for travel combined with innovative support strategies are creating opportunity.
Visiting Angels Vice President David Ritterling talks with FBR about why building a system of people who love people translates into a winning business model.
Franchisee satisfaction is a primary leading indicator of current system health and a predictor of future performance and long-term system growth. If the brand you’re investing in doesn’t provide you with recent, detailed, third-party research on their franchisees’ satisfaction, it could be a red flag.
Co-founder and president Shannon Wilburn recalls the “a-ha” moment when she realized she was missing out on the goldmine of data in her FBR survey.
As part of our ongoing series highlighting our Top Franchises, FBR asked Pet Supplies Plus Franchise Development Specialist Christine Schultz some questions to uncover what it is that makes Pet Supplies Plus a best-in-category brand.
Dennis Maple, president and CEO of Goddard Systems, Inc., explains how they use their annual FBR franchisee satisfaction survey to baseline against competitors as well as their own goals for success.
Christian Brothers Automotive president Donnie Carr shares how their FBR survey results inform strategic planning throughout the organization from operations to development to franchisee support and franchise culture.
We talk with Maddi Park of MaidPro as part of our ongoing series highlighting the 2021 Franchisee Satisfaction Award winners. Maddi discusses how they make franchisee satisfaction data an integral part of their franchise marketing strategy.
What can franchise leaders do to keep employees engaged while the workplace and workspace continue to evolve through the pandemic? Learn the four things franchise franchise organizations should be doing for their employees to increase engagement in the COVID-19 world.
Justin Bredeman, CEO of Soccer Shots, talks with FBR about why they were committed to surveying franchisees amidst the challenges of the pandemic, how they used the survey data to identify areas for improvement and measure performance, and the post-pandemic outlook.
As part of FBR’s ongoing series spotlighting 2021 Franchisee Satisfaction Award Winners, FBR talked with Team Logic IT’s president Dan Shapero about strengthening franchisee relationships, adapting franchisee support during the pandemic, and how they have continued to generate demand for the brand in terms of new store sales, new store awards, and territory expansion.
In our continuing series spotlighting our 2021 Best-in-Category Franchisee Satisfaction Award Winners, Payroll Vault president & CEO Sean Manning talks with Nicole Dudley, Director of Client Relations at Franchise Business Review, about the “hypertransformation” in business over the past year, as well as how they use their survey data to drive goal-setting and measure success.
The pandemic disrupted many businesses - some struggled to survive while others were able to drive innovation. So where does that leave franchise CEOs who are committed to the health of their system? Implementing these three strategies with a critical focus on people is crucial for success.
FASTSIGNS' Mark Jameson talks with FBR about why franchisee satisfaction is one of the four key pillars of FASTSIGNS mission, how they use FBR’s data to bring in high quality candidates who are aligned with their culture, and how the pandemic drove rapid innovation in their business.
Getting franchisees to their "point of clarity" can turn around underperforming franchisees and drive greater system performance overall. Scott Greenberg, author of The Wealthy Franchisee, shares how to get franchisees into the right mindset to boost performance, increase satisfaction and grow your brand.
What does the future hold for franchising? We asked some of the thought leaders in franchising to look into their crystal balls and reveal their predictions for 2021.
All franchise buyers do varying degrees of due diligence before investing in a brand. The difference is that today more and more prospective franchisees are looking at franchisee satisfaction data in addition to financial benefits, lifestyle, and the training and support they’ll receive. See what current franchisees have to say about franchisee satisfaction as a key factor in choosing a franchise.
While some franchise brands were able to continue to thrive through the events of 2020, many have had to lay off or furlough employees and/or had franchisees whose businesses didn’t survive - all of which can also take a toll on franchise culture. It’s more important now than ever before to assess your company culture and take steps to fix the parts that are broken. These 12 steps can help you get started
Listen to inspiring stories from two of franchising's most inspiring female leaders in the Her Success podcast series from the Women's Franchise Committee.
Michelle Rowan, president & COO of FBR, recently sat down with Michael Arrowsmith, Chief Development Officer of Pinch A Penny, a pool retail, service and repair franchise, to talk about their culture, what candidates are looking for when researching potential franchise investments, the recession, growth outlook, and training and support for franchisees.
With protests continuing across the country, it’s clear we need systemic change to end racism. Franchising is positioned to lead the way by supporting franchisees and employees. Here are five ideas we’re sharing from what we’re reading and hearing from people in our industry.
When you survey your franchisees, it's critical to share it with your entire executive team if you want to truly cultivate a data-driven mindset in your organization. The insights we collect on our surveys can help every team in your organization identify priorities, track their progress and meet their goals. Find out how each of your teams can benefit from having FBR walk them through your data together.
Most of us are aware that communicating - and communicating quickly and often - is critical in times of crisis. But while most of us are focused on outbound communication to employees, franchisees and customers, it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that communication is a two-way street. Learn how to ensure you have a plan for franchisees and employees to communicate their needs and concerns to you.
Franchisee satisfaction is a primary indicator of long-term system growth and success in measuring the health of any franchise system, but if you're wondering what the ROI of franchisee satisfaction surveys is, read on for 8 ways you'll get a return on your investment of time and money - and drive franchise system growth.
FBR's president Michelle Rowan shares her three personal takeaways from Brené Brown on vulnerability, as well as how they apply to franchising.
Like other businesses across the country and the world, franchises have had to get creative in how they deliver their products and services - from implementing curbside pick-up to going entirely digital to completely changing priorities - basically overnight. We asked them to share their Smart Ideas for getting it done and here's what they told us.
Franchisors frequently implement new programs with the intention of adding value for all (or most) of their franchisees, but oftentimes, it’s hard to create programs that impact the more experienced, high-achiever franchisees in your system who have already figured out how to be successful. Franchise peer groups, however, can inspire and motivate all franchisees, including those already successful and mature franchisees, and give them the tools to take their businesses to an even higher level.
Many leaders are trying to adapt to running teams and their businesses remotely. How can you maintain, or create a remote culture while everyone is online instead of in-person? And how do we rebuild culture when remote workers return to the office? Consider these ideas for creating or maintaining company culture while working remotely during COVID-19 and how to rebuild culture after returning to the workplace.
Here at Franchise Business Review, we talk about ways we can contribute to supporting the franchise industry during COVID-19. With our Smart Ideas Project, we want to collect and share more ideas that are working in this crazy time - I hope you’ll share yours. We plan to share these ideas that might help support or inspire others as we look for ways to protect or pivot our businesses.
Within days of COVID-19 becoming a health and economic crisis, numerous organizations and companies made resources available to provide assistance and forums to connect us and guide us through this. To make them easier to access, we’ve compiled a list of the COVID-19 franchise resources we’ve come across. The list is not exhaustive and we are updating as more resources become available.
Learn three steps you can take to build in transparency to keep existing franchisees satisfied and engaged, and attract new franchisees to your brand.
Franchise Update's Leadership and Development Conference is a must-attend event. In case you missed it, FBR president Michelle Rowan shares the four major takeaways from the event on how to create a culture of growth in your organization.
What are the biggest challenges facing franchise operations teams? FBR's president Michelle Rowan joined over 175 operations leaders and had a unique opportunity to facilitate two days of discussion around where their focus is and the best practices they're using to overcome obstacles.
There is no metric that better predicts success or foreshadows issues within a system than the sentiment of its franchise owners. Measuring and managing franchisee satisfaction is the best way to build a system in which everyone wins.
As we celebrate this fourth of July, FBR's president Michelle Rowan reflects on the freedoms we enjoy and the value of listening to and carefully considering the opinions of others in our communities, families, even our franchise systems, in order to drive positive change.
FBR sat down with Any Lab Test Now to talk about how they have seized a unique position in the healthcare consumerism sector and their approach to innovation in franchising, particularly when it comes to franchisee support.
In this Interview with Jeff Huber, President & CEO of Home Instead Senior Care, he talks with FBR about the deeply personal experience that led to the inception of Home Instead and continues to guide their business philosophy.
Celebrate International Women's Day with three simple, yet profound ideas gleaned from the legendary Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Franchise Business Review's President and COO, Michelle Rowan, explores lessons learned from the feminist icon, the value of women in her personal life and their role in the industry.
It’s the season of giving, and while a partridge in a pear tree would be nice, we thought a list of our 12 favorite books would be a tad more practical. The team at FBR compiled this list of the most inspiring and motivating books they’ve read this year so we could share them with you.
Despite it's critical importance, culture is frequently overlooked by leadership. This eBook examines the three foundational components of a positive franchise culture—and provides practical advice for franchise leadership teams for creating and maintaining a culture that leads to greater productivity and profitability.
Everyone's talking about organizational culture these days, but it can be squishy topic - hard to define and even harder to shape. To help understand what makes for a positive culture, we asked 10 franchise leaders at top-performing franchise companies how they would describe their brand’s culture. See what they told us.
We're surveying EVERYONE that works in the franchise industry to find out what they think of their job, team, and company. Share your experience with us and help us identify the best places to work in franchising!
We’ve pulled together this list of the top 5 must-have resources for emerging brands, full of the best practices we’ve collected over a decade from franchisors who are growing their brands strategically while maintaining a system of highly satisfied (and profitable) franchisees.
There’s so much to know and learn as a new franchisee – and so much ‘paper work’ coming down from HQ, that franchisees often get lost in a barrage of paper, rather than focusing on the big picture. That can lead to your franchisees unknowingly sabotaging your brand and their customer satisfaction. Nancy Friedman, President of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training, outlines five common phrases that can sabotage a business and how to mitigate them.
Franchise culture NEEDS to be an operational priority - starting with leadership, but really for everyone in your organization. The challenge is knowing where to start. Join FBR at the IFA Operations Seminar in Tampa this fall to learn the secrets of creating a winning culture from leading franchisors.
Perhaps no other franchising sector is as competitive and battle-tested as food. Every year, we release our annual report on the top food franchises based on franchisee satisfaction. The brands in this report have maintained double-digit growth and high franchisee satisfaction through some of the toughest years in franchising history. Franchisors from all types of sectors can learn a lot from what these brands do (and don’t do) to be successful.
If you didn't get a chance to catch the closing session at the 2018 IFA Convention, you missed out. Luckily, we have the video. Dale Carnegie's Joe Hart shared how seeing FBR's survey data made regaining franchisees' trust his #1 priority.
The most successful CEOs lead by taking cues from what their franchisees are saying. Learn the three things that ALL CEOs should be doing if they truly care about the health and wealth of their system.
