Franchise
The Top 5 Business Service Franchises From the Franchise 500
More From This Topic
The 7 Best Ice-Cream Franchises for Summer
5 Great Ways to Research Franchise Businesses
3 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Start a Franchise
The Top 100 Franchises for Less Than $150,000
Can Colleges Teach People How to Franchise?
The Top-Ranked Franchise 500 Companies Available in All 50 States
Rising Stars: The Top 100 New Franchises to Keep Your Eyes On
The 13 Fastest Growing Franchise Opportunities From Our Franchise 500 List
5 Things You Should Know Before You Buy a McDonald's Franchise
5 Affordable Restaurant Franchises You Can Start for 5 Figures
A franchise is way for companies to expand their business by licensing the rights to third-party retailers or individuals -- or franchisees -- who then can use the franchise’s logo, name and business model.
There are three different kinds of franchises. They include:
Distributorships, such as with Toyota, which licenses the right for a third party to sell the parent company product.
Trademark licensing, which allows companies to buy the right to use the parent company’s trademark along with their own brand, such as what Coca-Cola licenses to other companies.
Business format franchises, such as Subway, which offer its franchisees the right to sell its goods and/or services using its business model.
Popular franchises: Some examples of popular and well-known franchise models are in the food industry -- many which have gone international -- such as McDonald’s, Subway and Dominos. Starbucks, which is commonly thought to be a franchise, is not.
For more information about top franchise businesses, check out Entrepreneur's "2015 Franchise 500 Rankings," or get the Entrepreneur Franchise 500.
