As part of the IFA, Franchise Update Media produces the industry’s most referenced research reports — annual benchmarks and studies that have become essential tools for franchise marketing, development, and multi-unit franchisees year after year.
At the center of this collection is the Annual Franchise Development Report — the industry’s most comprehensive benchmark for franchise sales performance, used by development teams across the country to measure results and set strategy.
Alongside it, Franchise Update Media’s suite of multi-unit research tells the story of franchising’s most prolific operators: the Multi-Unit 50 tracks the top brands by multi-unit concentration, the Multi-Brand 50 maps how the industry’s most active franchisees are building diversified portfolios, the Multi-Unit Dominators identifies the largest operators state by state, and the Mega 99 ranks franchising’s biggest players by total unit count.
Together, these reports provide an unmatched picture of where the opportunity is, who is seizing it, and what it takes to excel at the highest level in franchising.
The 2026 Annual Franchise Development Report (AFDR) delivers data collected from franchisors with responses organized by industry, unit investment, system-wide sales, brokers, and more. The annual report provides franchisors with the ideal tool for studying their development practices, benchmarking their sales and recruitment budgets against their own industry categories, and setting goals and budgets for the year ahead. The report also includes research into online recruitment practices, the growing use of mobile and social tools by prospects, and best practices by franchisors.
Here you will find access to purchase the full report, along with a summary of the key takeaways.
View the report here
This annual edition of the Multi-Unit Franchisee Buyer’s Guide to Franchise Opportunities is a resource for connecting expansion-minded multi-unit operators with like-minded franchisors. The guide is filled with concrete information from franchisors and is intended to help multi-unit franchisees evaluate new opportunities to diversify their portfolios of franchise brands. The franchisors listed understand multi-unit franchising and are actively seeking experienced operators to help them penetrate new markets.
View the Guide Here
The annual Multi-Unit 50 lists include the Top 50 Brands by Number of Multi-Unit Franchisees and the Top 50 Brands by Percentage of Multi-Unit Franchisees, highlighting the franchise systems with the highest number and proportion of multi-unit operators (MUOs), a critical indicator of system maturity and growth potential.
This analysis is made possible through FRANdata’s franchise database. Our dedicated information specialists work continuously to validate, update, and enrich the data, ensuring our insights reflect the most accurate picture of the franchise market. Due to ongoing changes within this system and FRANdata’s continuous data verification process, the total number of multi-unit franchisee owners may be subject to updates.
View the Report Here
The annual Multi-Brand 50 rankings list not only the largest multi-unit franchisees in the U.S. by number of total units, but also shows how many units of each brand they operate. See which brands these 50 largest franchise organizations prefer in their portfolios.
The annual Dominators rankings focus on large multi-unit franchisees who dominate the states and regions they operate in. It also lists the MSAs with the most franchised units. Learn where the country’s largest franchisees have built their empires.
The annual Mega 99 list ranks the country’s largest multi-unit franchisee organizations based on total unit count, The rankings show not only the number of units these “mega” franchisees operate, but also the brands they prefer. If you’re looking to expand and diversify your franchise enterprise, take a look at what the “big guys” are buying.