Tracy Stapp Herold is the special projects editor at Entrepreneur magazine. She works on franchise and business opportunity stories and listings, including the annual Franchise 500.
Quick-service and full-service restaurants plus retail food businesses accounted for over one quarter of our top franchises for 2014, proving that food franchises are a healthy business.
Lower startup costs -- sixty of these homebased companies can be started for less than $50,000 -- are just part of the reason for these businesses' popularity.
Around 64,000 veterans started careers in franchising in recent years. That's due in no small part to franchisors ramping up their efforts to recruit veterans, who many consider ideal franchisees thanks to their training and experience working within a disciplined system.
Restaurants or other food-related businesses represent a large portion of our franchise 500 ranking. Here is a list of the 122 food-related companies by category.
From old standards like hamburgers and fitness to up-and-coming categories like children's entertainment, these 10 industries are attracting new entrepreneurs and consumers.