Fresh Faces

Franchising provides aspiring business owners with two different opportunities: the opportunity to associate themselves with a household name such as Subway or McDonald's, or the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new franchise that could become a household name in the future. If you're intrigued by the latter, you'll be glad to know more companies are choosing franchising as a way to expand their empires, which means you have an ever-increasing pool of new franchises to choose from. Whether you want to sell wine, provide in-home senior care or teach art classes for children, you can find a new franchise that'll let you get started. And the 50 franchises in this listing are leading the pack.

The top 50 new franchises, which all started franchising in 2001 or after, are listed in order of their rankings in Entrepreneur's 2006 Franchise 500®. This list isn't intended to endorse any particular franchise, but rather to provide a starting point for your research. Before you purchase any franchise, you should investigate the opportunity thoroughly by interviewing existing and former franchisees, consulting with an attorney and an accountant, and reading all pertinent literature, including the company's Uniform Franchise Offering Circular. Don't put down any money for a new franchise without doing some good, old-fashioned research first.