Which industries are most likely to franchise?
Food & Beverage is the most-franchised industry in our dataset: 1,822 of 5,719 profiled brands (32%). Median minimum investment varies widely by industry — from $35,563 in event services to $6,130,275 in lodging. The table below compares all 12 categories on computed, FDD-derived figures.
All 12 franchise industries, compared
| Industry | Brands | Median min. investment | Median franchise fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food & Beverage | 1,822 | $282,500 | $35,000 |
| Professional Services | 1,750 | $84,700 | $39,700 |
| Health & Fitness | 895 | $184,861 | $49,000 |
| Retail | 256 | $165,000 | $36,750 |
| Home Services | 245 | $116,350 | $54,450 |
| Lodging | 221 | $6,130,275 | $63,600 |
| Automotive | 192 | $177,500 | $33,740 |
| Education | 48 | $100,538 | $44,750 |
| Sports & Recreation | 31 | $242,259 | $60,000 |
| Pet Services | 25 | $302,583 | $59,500 |
| Entertainment | 16 | $1,498,565 | $77,540 |
| Event Services | 13 | $35,563 | $18,150 |
Source: FDD-derived filings, medians over disclosed figures only · Brands without an industry label (205) are excluded
Trade-level cost guides
Deeper guides for specific trades — per-brand cost tables plus what the day-to-day work actually involves.
Automotive
Education
Food & Beverage
Health & Fitness
Home Services
Quick answers
- Which industry has the most franchise brands?
- Food & Beverage, with 1,822 of the 5,719 brands we profile (32%). Professional services and health & fitness follow. Brand count measures how often the model is franchised, not how good the businesses are.
- Which franchise industry costs the least to enter?
- By median disclosed minimum investment, event services is lowest at $35,563. Medians hide wide per-brand ranges — every category has outliers at both ends, so compare specific brands' Item 7 figures.