NEED TO
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MULTI-UNIT
Buyer’s Guide
FRANCHISED FOOD
INDUSTRY STATS
A
s of 2012, there were about 1,300 franchised
food brands operating in the U.S.; roughly two
thirds started offering franchises in 2000 or later.
In 2011, these food brands operated an estimated
176,700 franchised locations. The largest industry by number of
BY FRANDATA
From 2004 through 2011, brands in retail food grew
the fastest, at a CAGR of 9%, followed by baked goods
and sit-down restaurants, both at 8%. Interestingly, frozen
dessert picked up growth again in 2011 after stagnating
during the recession more than the other industries. This
was driven by frozen yogurt concepts such as Menchie’s
and Yogen Früz, which increased at a CAGR of 180%
and 125%, respectively, from 2008 through 2011.
franchised units is QSR, which accounted for 72% of franchised
units in 2011, followed by baked goods (9%) and retail food (8%).
To estimate the growth rates in franchised food units, FRANdata
created a sample of 488 brands for which consecutive data for
2004 through 2011 was available. In 2011, the sample operated 163,054 franchised locations, about 92% of the estimated
total. From 2004 through 2011, the number of franchised food
locations in this sample increased at a compound annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 5%. Before the recession, from 2004 through
2006, franchised food units increased at a CAGR of 10%.
CAGR in this segment slowed to 4% from 2007 through 2009,
and to 3% from 2009 through 2011.
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MULTI-UNIT BUYER’S GUIDE 2014
In fact, when breaking up the 2004 through 2011 period into three chunks (2004–2006, 2007–2009, and
2009–2011), frozen dessert was the only food industry that
managed a higher CAGR over the third phase than during
the second phase.
Note: QSR is displayed as a secondary axis;
the orange numbers to the right refer to QSR only.