What’s Driving Multi-Unit Growth
Stats point to continuing multi-unit expansion
For the past few years you have heard me note that the majority of franchised units in the U.S. are owned by multi-unit operators. With more than 400,000 franchised units in the country, multi-unit
operators control about 53 percent of those units. That’s impressive, and the percentage controlled by multi-unit operators is rising. This growth is a consequence of many brands
focusing their development models on multi-unit development packages over single-unit programs.
Today, FRANdata’s database shows the following break-
down of multi-unit operators (MUOs):
These are the “known” franchisees in our database. While
we try to keep up with the changes in each franchise system,
our database does not include current data for all of today’s
Finally, it should be noted that the growth of multi-unit
operators is happening, in part, from the exiting of some
single-unit operators. Transfers are on the rise across many
industries. As I’ve noted in a previous article, multi-unit operators increasingly are the buyers of existing units. It makes
sense, since they are in the best position to evaluate the current
operations and future potential of an existing unit.
All of this suggests a continuing rise in influence of the
multi-unit operator within franchising. Want further evidence? Franchise Update Media Group’s Multi-Unit Franchising Conference has set attendance records in each of the
past three years. Looks like I’ll be seeing more of you in Las
Vegas next April!
