Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its business model, brand, and rights to sell its branded products and services to a franchisee. In return, the franchisee pays certain fees and agrees to comply with certain obligations, typically set out in a franchise agreement.
A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically part of a "meat-sweet diet", offered from a limited menu, cooked in bulk in advance and kept hot, finished and packaged to order, and usually available for take away, though seating may be provided. Fast-food restaurants are typically part of a restaurant chain or franchise operation that provides standardized ingredients and/or partially prepared foods and supplies to each restaurant through controlled supply channels. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.
Papa John's International, Inc., d/b/a Papa Johns, is an American pizza restaurant chain. It is the fourth largest pizza delivery restaurant chain in the United States, with headquarters in the Louisville, Kentucky and Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan areas.
Boston Market Corporation, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Golden, Colorado. It is owned by the Rohan Group.
Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd. is an Australian fast food franchise of the Burger King Corporation. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia, a privately held company owned by Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's owns and operates or sub-licenses all of the Burger King/Hungry Jack's restaurants in Australia.
Steak 'n Shake Operations, Inc. is an American casual restaurant chain concentrated primarily in the Midwestern United States with locations also in the South, Mid-Atlantic, Western United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Biglari Holdings. As of 2018, 628 Steak 'n Shake restaurants were in operation; of those 414 are corporate-owned, and 214 franchised. The company has since attempted to convert to a fully franchised model. Restaurant locations have sit-down, drive-thru, and front-window service; they provide a hybrid of fast-food to-go and diner-style sit-down service. Many locations are open 24 hours a day, seven days per week. The menu features primarily burgers and hand-dipped milkshakes; other entrees, side items, and drinks are also available.
SuperValu, Inc., was an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, formerly headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, had been in business since 1926. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods (UNFI).
Graeter's is a regional ice cream chain based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1870 by Louis C. Graeter, the company has since expanded to 50 retail locations selling ice cream, candy and baked goods in the Midwestern United States. It further distributes its ice cream to 6,000 stores throughout the country. As of 2017, the company had 1,050 employees and $60 million in revenue.
Hot 'n Now is an American fast-food restaurant based in Holt, Michigan. Founded in 1984, the chain once grew to more than 150 locations throughout the United States at its peak. Subsequently, under the ownership of PepsiCo, the chain filed for bankruptcy in 2004, and was then sold to STEN Corporation. As of September 9, 2016, only the Sturgis, Michigan location remains in operation. The majority of the chain's locations focused entirely on drive-thru service, featuring a small-footprint building with a tall, slanted roof style. Some previous locations were more traditional fast-food locations, complete with seating, and others were combined with gas stations.
Shoney's is an American restaurant chain headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. As of December 2023, the company operates 61 restaurants in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Buffalo Wild Wings is an American casual dining restaurant and sports bar franchise in the United States, India, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirates which specializes in Buffalo wings and sauces.
Rax Roast Beef is a regional U.S. fast food restaurant chain specializing in roast beef sandwiches. The company has been through many iterations, declaring bankruptcy more than once, rising to as many as 504 locations in 38 U.S. states in the 1980s and falling to fewer than 20 locations on more than one occasion. As of 2024, Rax is based in Ironton, Ohio, and has fewer than ten franchisee-owned restaurants still in operation.
Marsh Supermarkets was an American retail food chain headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a peak number of 86 stores in 2013 located throughout central Indiana and parts of western Ohio. Its eventual parent company was Sun Capital Partners, headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.
Food 4 Less is the name of several grocery store chains, the largest of which is currently owned by Kroger. It is a no-frills grocery store where the customers bag their own groceries at the checkout. Kroger operates Food 4 Less stores in the Chicago metropolitan area and in Southern California. Kroger operates their stores as Foods Co. in northern and central California, including Bakersfield and the Central Coast, because they do not have the rights to the Food 4 Less name in those areas. Other states, such as Nevada, formerly contained Kroger-owned Food 4 Less stores.
GetGo, also known as GetGo Cafe & Market, is a convenience store chain owned and operated by Giant Eagle. Both are based in suburban Pittsburgh. The chain operates locations in Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
VPS Convenience Store Group was an American convenience store chain headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina that could trace its roots to the founding of the first Village Pantry convenience store in 1966. VPS was sold in two parts in 2013 and 2015 to GPM Investments.
The majority of the locations of international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King are privately owned franchises. While the majority of franchisees are smaller operations, several have grown into major corporations in their own right. At the end of the company's fiscal year in 2015, Burger King reported it had more than 15,000 outlets in 84 countries; of these, approximately 50% are in the United States and 99.9% are privately owned and operated. The company locations employ more than 37,000 people who serve approximately 11.4 million customers daily.
AmRest is a European multinational casual dining, fast-food restaurant and coffee shop operator headquartered in the Spanish capital, Madrid . The company runs more than 2300 locations, mostly franchises of KFC, Pizza Hut and Starbucks, and also Burger King until 2022, but also operates its own brands of restaurants. Apart from Spain, AmRest operates in Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and others.
Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt is an Oklahoma City-based chain of self-serve frozen yogurt franchises founded in 2008. It has spread to over 300 locations in the United States and has also expanded internationally.
Roman's Pizza is a South African-based pizza restaurant chain franchise founded in 1993. Originally named Little Caesar's when it was founded by Arthur Nicolakakis in Pretoria. The chain was rebranded in 2002 and renamed Roman's Pizza. The company is known for its two for one pizza promotions with a business model that seeks to minimize prices whilst maintaining quality.
US$14.4 million (2022) [2] 
US$427,716 (2022)
