Franchise 500

[1] The ranking is based on an evaluation of each company's costs and fees, size and growth, franchisee support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability.

[2] The list includes both public and privately held companies, and has been published annually since 1980.

[3][4] Each company that applies for the Franchise 500 through the online submission form is required to submit a copy of its current Franchise Disclosure Document and other supporting documents in order to verify the information submitted.

All qualifying applicants are scored by Entrepreneur's proprietary formula, which evaluates franchise companies based on more than 150 data points across five pillars: costs and fees, size and growth, support, financial strength and stability, and brand strength.

Entrepreneur typically receives more than 1,000 applications for the ranking annually.