Discover
Browse research by industry, investment level, or the specific FDD item you want to understand. Every figure is sourced from a publicly filed FDD or registration record.
Our editorial method
A research-first workflow — not a sales pipeline.
We don't sell franchises. We make the research phase faster, cleaner, and harder to misread. This page describes how we work, what we read, and what we deliberately don't do.
The workflow
Discover, Compare, Decide
The same workflow a careful prospective franchisee follows in person, organised into three stages so the research phase takes hours instead of months — and so the conclusions are easier to defend later.
Compare
See how brands stack up on initial fees, royalties, territory rules, and disclosure history — apples-to-apples.
Decide
Walk through our buyer-side checklists, questions to ask franchisors, and the steps to take before you sign.
Methodology
What we read, what we don't do, and how we use AI
What we read
Our research starts with primary sources. The most important is the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) — the 23-item legal document the FTC requires every franchisor to deliver at least 14 days before a prospective franchisee signs anything. We also draw on publicly filed state franchise registration records (in California, New York, and the other registration states), SEC and state corporate filings for the franchisor entity, and public court records for the litigation and dispute history surfaced in FDD Item 3. When we cite a figure, we cite the FDD item and filing year so you can verify it yourself.
What we don't do
We do not accept payment from franchisors in connection with any specific opportunity covered on this site — no featured placement fees, no sponsored posts, no review fees, no commissions contingent on a franchisee signing. We do not sell, broker, or recommend franchises, and we do not earn a referral fee from a franchisor for sending a prospective franchisee their way. We are paid by readers (through the newsletter and any future research subscriptions) and by clearly disclosed general business-service affiliate partners — never by franchisors for specific brand coverage.
AI-assisted research — disclosed
Some of our editorial content — including industry overviews, brand summaries, and FDD explanations — is generated or assisted by AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team before publication. AI content may contain errors despite our review process. Where a page, summary, or comparison on this site is materially generated by AI, we may add a brief in-page label such as "AI-assisted research — reviewed by our editorial team" in close proximity to the affected content. Always verify critical information against the primary source — the FDD itself, not our summary of it.
Editorial independence
Our research team is not paid by, does not report to, and does not receive bonuses tied to the commercial success of any franchisor we cover. We may, at our discretion, decline to cover certain brands where we cannot verify publicly available information, or where we determine that doing so would risk misleading readers. Our methodology prioritises public, verifiable sources; plain-language translation of regulatory and contractual language; surfacing what is not disclosed (for example, the absence of an Item 19 financial performance representation); and clear caveats where data is incomplete, stale, or contested.