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.
Howard Johnson by Wyndham, still commonly referred to as Howard Johnson's, is an American hotel brand with over 200 hotels in 15 countries. It was also formerly a restaurant chain, which at one time was the largest in the U.S., with more than 1,000 locations. Since 2006, all hotels and company trademarks, including those of the defunct restaurant chain, have been owned by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.
Roy Rogers Franchise Company, LLC is a chain of fast food restaurants primarily located in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States. The chain originated as the rebranding of the RoBee's House of Beef chain of Fort Wayne, Indiana, acquired by the Marriott Corporation in February 1968. However, Marriott first used the Roy Rogers Roast Beef name on conversions of the company's Junior Hot Shoppes in the Washington, D.C. area in April 1968, then the existing RoBee's stores. An aggressive nationwide franchising campaign was launched. At its peak, the chain included over 600 locations. The chain now has 38 locations in six states, either company owned or franchised.
Holiday Inn is a chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003), who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee. The chain was a division of Bass Brewery from 1988-2000, Six Continents from 2000-03, and IHG Hotels & Resorts since 2003. It operates hotels under the names Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, and Holiday Inn Resorts. As of 2018, Holiday Inn has hotels at over 1,100 locations.
Carlson is an American privately held company headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States. Its primary subsidiary is Carlson Private Capital Partners, a family office that manages the owners' wealth. It previously held interests in hotels, including Radisson Hotels, and restaurants, including TGI Fridays. The company is owned by Barbara Carlson Gage and Marilyn Carlson Nelson, daughters of the founder, Curt Carlson.
TGI Fridays Franchisor, LLC, doing business as TGI Fridays, is an American casual dining restaurant chain focusing primarily on American cuisine. The restaurant's founder said the name stood for "Thank God It's Friday", although the chain's television commercials as of 2010 bowdlerized the phrase as "Thank Goodness It's Friday". TGI Fridays operates over 600 locations in 55 countries, including 164 in the United States as of October 2024. The chain filed for bankruptcy in the United States on November 2, 2024. Only restaurants directly owned by TGI are affected by the bankruptcy filing and exclude franchised locations.
Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging brands that include hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. Marriott International owns over 36 hotel and timeshare brands with 9,000 locations and 1,597,380 rooms across its network. Marriott International is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. The company is the successor to the hospitality division of the Marriott Corporation, founded by J. Willard Marriott (1900–1985) and his wife Alice Marriott (1907–2000).
Ramada is a large American multinational hotel chain owned by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. As of December 31, 2022, it operates 851 hotels with 120,344 rooms across 63 countries under the Ramada brand.
Whitbread is a British multinational hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742 by Samuel Whitbread in partnership with Godfrey and Thomas Shewell, with premises in London at the junction of Old Street and Upper Whitecross Street, along with a brewery in Brick Lane, Spitalfields. Samuel Whitbread bought out his partners, expanding into porter production with the purchase of a brewery in Chiswell Street, and the company had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s.
Columbia Sussex is a privately owned hotel company based in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. The company, owned by the Yung family, owns and operates hotels in various parts of the United States. The current president and founder is William J. Yung III.
The Marriott Corporation was a hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993. It was founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, it opened its first hotel in Arlington County, Virginia, the Marriott Motor Hotel.
Hampton by Hilton, formerly Hampton Inn or Hampton Inn & Suites, is an American chain of hotels trademarked by Hilton Worldwide. The Hampton hotel brand is a chain of moderately priced, budget to midscale limited service hotels with limited food and beverage facilities. Most Hampton hotels are independently owned and operated by franchisees, though a few are managed by Hilton. Hampton by Hilton is one of the largest hotel franchises in the U.S. As of March 2024, the Hampton franchise includes 3,000 hotels in 40 countries and territories.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addition to 46 hotels with 8,755 rooms planned for the future.
Bob's Big Boy is a casual dining restaurant chain founded by Bob Wian in Southern California in 1936, originally named Bob's Pantry. The chain's signature product is the Big Boy hamburger, which Wian created six months after opening his original location. Slicing a bun into three slices and adding two hamburger patties, Wian is credited with creating the original double-decker hamburger.
Wag's was a chain of casual dining restaurants owned and operated by Walgreens in the 1970s and 1980s. They were modeled after restaurants like Denny's, Shoney's, and Big Boy in that they were mostly 24-hour establishments specializing in inexpensive fare such as hamburgers and breakfast. The chain was based on smaller restaurants that existed in some of the larger Walgreens stores.
Competitive Foods Australia (CFA) is the largest franchiser of restaurants in Australia. It is owned and operated by Jack Cowin. Its units are Hungry Jack's and, previously, some KFC stores.
Cargills (Ceylon) PLC is a Sri Lankan consumer company which is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. It is a market leader in the Modern Retail (supermarkets), FMCG, and Restaurants industries and also has a presence in the Banking, Real Estate, and Cinema sectors. The controlling interest in the company is held by C T Holdings PLC.
Nordic Service Partners (NSP) is the largest franchisee of Burger King in the Nordic countries as well as being a franchisee of KFC in Sweden and TGI Fridays in Denmark. The company is today one of Sweden's largest restaurant companies specialising in fast food restaurants.
The Riese Organization is a privately-held investment company based in New York City that is heavily invested in real estate and in franchised fast food and casual dining restaurants in Manhattan.
