Best Franchises to Own for Beginners in 2024

Find out the best franchises to own as a beginner in 2024 with this useful guide.

You are an ambitious entrepreneur and set your goal of starting a franchise business. But you are in the puzzle of which franchise I need to start. There are hundreds of franchises in multiple industries of different types. Which best franchise for beginners to select is problematic now. This guide will cover the best franchises to own for beginners.

In 2023, around 805K franchises exist in the USA alone, boosting the economy with 860 billion in revenue generation. In those establishments, 8.07 billion are employed the same year. The largest sectors that hold the crown of owning most franchises are quick service restaurants, while the second one is retail food.

So, this blog is intended to help you in picking the best franchises to own for beginners in 2024.

Best Franchises for First-Time Owners

Let’s take a look at the 10 best franchises to own for beginners in 2024.

Chem-Dry

In the world of cleaning services, carpet cleaning is the major subset. Out there in the cleaning service sector, one of the low-cost franchises is Chem-Dry. Worldwide, it is the biggest carpet cleaning best starter franchise. As per the Chem-Dry’s, the brand sales grew at a rate of 5% in 2018, with earnings of 5 billion dollars that year. Apart from carpet cleaning, Chem-Dry also provides residential and commercial upholstery, air duct, grout, stone, tile, odor and pet urine cleaning services.

So, to own a Chem-Dry franchise, you should at least have 60K dollars in net worth and 40K in liquid capital to be considered. Also, being one of the best franchises to start, Chem-Dry allows beginners to finance a certain portion of the starting license fee for at least 2.5 years, while the first responders and veterans will get a discount of 10% on the initial license fee. Its initial license fee is about 24K dollars, while the estimated total investment needed is around 68K to 179K dollars.

Merry Maids

In 1947, Merry Maids came to life, and since then, it has offered the best house-cleaning services for landowners and is considered the nation’s primary residential cleaning service company. As of now, it has 480+ franchises all over the USA. When it comes to earnings, it makes a huge profit, with the average gross sales of all 975 franchises in 2023 being around 256K dollars, while some franchises earn up to 2 million dollars. This can be a great chance for minorities, women, veterans or even cash buyer’s groups, as Merry Maids offers great help to them.

Moreover, for qualified owners, Merry Maids offers up to 80% finance support through ServiceMaster Acceptance Company L.P. (“SMAC”) for the starting franchise fee. But new franchisees must have liquid capital of around 50K dollars at least. As a startup, you need an Initial franchise fee of 38K to 58K dollars, depending on market size, with a predicted total investment of around 90K to 125K dollars.

KFC

In the American fast-food culture, Colonel Sanders is the most famous icon. Around 185 million US citizens view a KFC commercial at least 4 times a month. This clarifies that once you own a KFC franchise, you are backed by a solid support system and business model.

This also implies that when accessing the franchisee’s eligibility, it looks at both quantitative (credit score and net worth) and qualitative factors (experience and skills). The six main factors for evaluation cover the “financial qualifications, multi-unit operations experience, personal and financial reputation, culture and brand fit, motivation and commitment and growth mindset.” Even KFC has tougher financial qualification setup.

To start a KFC franchise, a franchisee must have at least 750K dollars in liquid assets and 1.5 million in net worth. These can be varying or higher depending on the level of ownership. For an Initial franchise fee, you need 45K dollars, while the expected total initial investment is around 2 to 3 million dollars.

McDonald’s

There is no doubt that McDonald’s is the most popular fast-food restaurant chain worldwide. Therefore, you can strive if you are interested in owning a well-established fast-food brand franchise. In the USA, around 90% of franchisees own McDonald’s franchises, and most of them are minorities and women groups.

You need to at a minimum of 500K dollar liquid assets in hand in order for your application to be considered. And once the brand approves your application, you need to perform strict training before owning a franchise. The training runs for 1 year and 6 months on a part-time basis. The initial franchise fee is 25K dollars and the expected total initial investment needed is 400 thousand to 2.2 million dollars.

During the 2023 financial year, McDonald’s franchise restaurants made 119.75 billion dollars in sales, a rise over the previous years of 109.47 billion.

7-Eleven

7-Eleven is the leading US-based convenience store, a beloved destination for quick beverages, snacks and daily essentials since its establishment in 1927. 7-Eleven provides franchise owners a backup of the well-recognized brands with 100% growth chances of the top retail franchises. Its proven business model is built on brand forte, financial stability and wide support.

As of 2023, a total of 12,592 convenience stores were in operation all over the USA, with a retail sale of 27.88 billion dollars. 7-eleven has over 72,00 franchises in the USA, an impressive presence. In the Top Global Franchises and Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 list, it ranked high consistently.

To start this franchise, you need a pay at least a 50K to 750K dollar franchise fee with an initial investment of around 70 thousand to 1.2 million dollars and a liquid cash requirement of 50K dollars. As well, you can avail of finance support via internal programs of up to 65% of the initial franchise fee.

The UPS store

The world’s largest courier/local package delivery service company was founded in Seattle in 1907. The UPS store has an extremely strong reputation as a community-minded and reliable business. Owning a UPS store franchise means you can make a huge impact on your local community regarding printing catalogs and brochures and packing and shipping. Also, 85%of the US population settles within 10 miles of where UPS stores exist.

In 2023, the domestic package revenue was around 60 billion dollars, while revenue made from international package delivery was about 17.8 billion dollars.

The average cost to start a UPS franchise for beginners is around 350K dollars, including a franchise fee of 30K dollars. You need a minimum amount of 138K dollars to open the UPS store franchise, which can go up to 470K. You also need a liquid cash of $60,000 minimum. UPS Store franchise owners can expect to make a profit of around 60K to 120K on average.

Anytime Fitness

Anytime Fitness is one of the top fitness franchises in the USA who began its journey in 2002. Since then, it has expanded to all seven continents in 4000+ locations. Anytime Fitness’s unique business model is the reason behind their popularity. All the locations of Anytime Fitness are 24 O’clock opened. Its core service is standard gym fare but also covers personal training, yoga, Cardio, spin, Zumba classes and services. Anytime Fitness always prioritizes staff wellness and delivers a supportive and friendly culture.

In the franchise agreement of Anytime Fitness, gross sales cover the advertising and royalty fee, but rates are flat on a monthly basis. This makes it easy for you to organize and plan your expenses. Also, Anytime Fitness will also give you comprehensive training, a personal support team, and marketing support mentioned in the franchise agreement’s six-year period (or 10 years for California applicants). The initial franchise fee to start a franchise is 3K to 43K dollars while the expected total initial investment needed is from 58K go up to 522K dollars.

Crunch Fitness

Crunch Fitness has a free of judgment” culture or trademarked the slogan “No Judgments.” Tier marketing is also unique and uses a quirky, irreverent, fun and motivating approach. This style of marketing is displayed in their culture. Their aim is to relax and enjoy life during their workout. If you find that fun is your primary motivator, Crunch could be the perfect gym franchise opportunity for you.

As of now, Crunch Fitness has 300+ open locations in 5 nations and 29 states. In the future, their goal is to expand their reach to 1000+ locations. Also, this smaller franchise pool implies each franchisee gets more customized help from the franchisor. You need a minimum of 1 million net worth to be eligible for franchise ownership with a liquid asset of 300K to 400K dollars. The royalty fees amount to 5% of the monthly gross sales, while the advertising fees are 2% of the monthly gross sales.

Ace Hardware

Founded in 1921 and started franchising in 1976. Ace Hardware has a total of 5900+ units worldwide. A well-established home improvement store provides a unique retail franchising opportunity with no royalty fee and is the easiest franchises to start. This let’s franchise owners own stores independently while taking advantage form the brand’s solid reputation and resource support.

In 2023, Ace Hardware’s revenue was roughly 9.1 billion U.S. dollars, lower than the previous year, which was 9.2 billion recorded.

You must have a net worth of 700K dollars to be eligible to register for franchise ownership. Once eligible for that, you need to pay an initial franchise fee of 5K dollar with an initial investment of around 600 thousand to 2 million dollars.

Circle K

Circle K is a prominent convenience store having 1500+ franchises in 10 countries. Most of the franchises are in the US. Fred Hervey’s Founded in 1951, Circle K began as three small food stores. It has since grown into a major global franchise. Since 1995, it has started offering franchising opportunities, expanding to thousands of locations worldwide. It is now working under its parent company called Alimentation Couche-Tard, a Canadian global operator of convenience stores.

The initial franchise fee cost around 25K dollars for launching the Circle K franchise under the Convenience Store Franchise Agreement. However, discounts on certain stores apply. Its royalty is around 4.5% of gross sales, while the Marketing/Advertising Fee varies between 1% to 2.5% of revenues. You need a total initial investment of 1.5 million to 2.7 million dollars to start a good franchise like Circle K.

How Much Money Do You Need to Start a Franchise?

Since cost varies from industry to industry or business to business, there is no fixed one. However, there are certain factors you can consider when expecting the financial budget to start a franchise business. Learning about these factors will help in deciding on which path you can go and achieve. Let’s have an overview of four financial considerations:

Minimum Liquid Capital:

This refers to assets that can easily be converted into cash. A franchise owner must have this initial investment. This initial investment requirement varies from company to company or industry to industry. This liquid capital is the initial foundation of opening a franchise. In case you are struggling with evaluating the liquid capital needed to begin your franchise venture, consult with the National Franchise Association.

Total Investment:

The total investment are all the expenses associated with launching and operating a successful franchise. Franchise owners must perform in-depth research and review all possible financial disclosures, such as the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), to have clearness on the projected total investment. Also, you can connect with the National Franchise Association for full guidance on measuring your total investment.

Franchise Fees:

These fees are one-time payments the franchisee pays to the franchisor. Following this payment, a franchisor has all right to use trademarks, names and business systems. Franchise fees vary depending on the industry, the brand’s reputation and the level of support the franchisor offers. Evaluation of the franchisor value proposition is mandatory to assess the potential ROI in relation to upfront costs.

Net Worth Required:

Franchisors set a minimum net worth cap to assure franchisees have the financial resources to support the franchise business. When you subtract the liabilities from assets, you will get your net worth. This amount is a sign of investment capacity and financial strength.

Key Factors for a Successful Franchise

A successful franchise operation is only possible when you assess certain key factors. These factors help you choose a franchise that matches your values and goals. Let’s discuss these key factors for a successful franchise.

- Smooth Operations and Strong Support: Choose a franchise with smooth operations and solid support systems. This simplifies the process of starting and managing your business. Pick those franchisors who provide thorough detailed operational manuals, training programs, and continuous support. The National Franchise Association (NFA) supports in this regards with valuable insights and stay updated on industry best practices.
Proven Business Model: A franchisor who provides a proven business model improves the chances of franchise success. Evaluate franchisor status level or brand recognition, already existing franchisee profitability ratio, and customer satisfaction level. Opting for a franchise with a history of multiple achievements means you can replicate that success.
Matches your Personal Interests and Community Needs: Select a franchise that matches your personal interests and addresses community needs. Reflect on your interests, passions, skills, and core values when considering franchise options. Additionally, assess the demand for the franchise’s products or services in your local community to confirm they meet their needs and preferences.
- Innovation in Franchising: Fast Food, retail, and beyond: The franchise industry is diverse. Sectors such as fast food, retail, and home services leading the franchising Brands like Zaxby’s, an American chain of fast-casual restaurants keeps innovating, while cruise planners, a home-based travel agent franchise networks getting the most out of travel industry.

Conclusion

When considering the best franchises to own for beginners, prioritize opportunities that provide training, resources,and growth possibilities. The right selection can convert your vision of owning a successful franchise into reality.

The National Franchise Association is a great supporter of educating individuals venturing into franchising all over the USA. We aim to facilitate all those who are desperate to launch their successful franchise. When you connect with the National Franchise Association, you are becoming part of an honest and strongminded society.