For Small Towns

Ray Kroc, a milkshake mixer salesman, ventured to California in 1954 to visit McDonald's hamburger stand, where he heard they were running eight mixers at once. Kroc was impressed by how rapidly customers were served and, seeing an opportunity to sell many more milkshake machines, encouraged brothers Dick and Mac McDonald to open a chain of their restaurants. Kroc became their business partner and opened the first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955. McDonald's and the Golden Arches have since become an internationally-recognized symbol of quick-service hamburgers, fries, chicken, breakfast items, salads and milkshakes.

In 1965, 17-year-old Fred DeLuca and family friend Peter Buck opened Pete's Super Submarines in Bridgeport, Connecticut. With a loan from Buck for only $1,000, DeLuca hoped the tiny sandwich shop would earn enough to put him through college. After struggling through the first few years, the founders changed the company's name to Subway and began franchising in 1974. Subway has franchises throughout the United States and in 98 countries, with locations in traditional and nontraditional sites alike.

Café Barbera - The Italian Coffee House - is an unique franchise, meeting consumer demands for a fresher, tastier, healthier menu and premium-grade coffees. Featuring Caffè Barbera coffee, our Café Barbera franchises are the expression of over 145 years of coffee perfection and passion from six generations of the Barbera family.

N-Hance is a wood refinishing franchise that uses a proprietary refinishing process and product line that requires no sanding and uses an instant-curing U.V. process for hardwood floors and kitchen cabinets.

Budget Blinds is a member of a family of brands under the umbrella of Home Franchise Concepts (HFC), which also includes Tailored Living and Concrete Craft. Launched in 1992, Budget Blinds allows customers to shop at home for window coverings and offers customers free in-home consultations, window measurements and installation.

ServiceMaster Clean franchises offer janitorial, floor care, disaster restoration and rebuild services. ServiceMaster Clean is part of the ServiceMaster family of brands, which also includes Terminix, Merry Maids, AmeriSpec Inspection Services, Furniture Medic and American Home Shield.

As a teenager in the 1930s, Irv Robbins managed an ice cream shop in Tacoma, Washington. Bored with serving traditional flavors like chocolate and vanilla, Robbins began experimenting by mixing fruit and candy into the ice cream. After serving in World War II, Robbins bought an ice cream parlor in Glendale, California. Three years later, he convinced his brother-in-law, Burt Baskin, to join the business. The two men flipped a coin to see whose name would go first on the sign. Baskin won, and in 1945, Baskin-Robbins was born.

Ask anyone who has grown up in a community with a Round Table Pizza, and they’ll regale you with stories of birthday parties, family pizza night, and hanging out after the big game. Since the brand’s inception in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1959, Round Table has been committed to being “The Last Honest Pizza,” not only by providing a superior product but by dedicating ourselves to providing great service as both a restaurant and a neighbor in every community we’re located in.

The first Hooters Restaurant opened in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983. The company, known for its Hooters Girls waitresses, began franchising in 1986. The beach-theme restaurants feature sports displayed on flat-screen TVs and a menu offering seafood, sandwiches, burgers, salads, chicken wings and alcohol.

The Spice & Tea Exchange® Franchise was founded in 2008 by a group of talented individuals with a passion for life and a passion for food. Their vision to create a one-of-a-kind shopping experience brought our 18th Century Trading Post concept to life. Through the years, we’ve grown our franchise concept exponentially with one mission in mind:

Back in 2008, the first Bubbakoo’s Burritos opened its doors in Point Pleasant, New Jersey and immediately became known as a place to relax while enjoying an awesome meal made with the freshest ingredients around town. Our mission was clear: leverage our past foodservice experience to serve up high-quality products in a cool, family-friendly environment – and develop a business that allowed us to create an ideal balance of flavor, freshness, fun, and opportunity.

Fetch! Pet Care is America's largest and most trusted pet sitting and dog walking franchise servicing more than 1,800 cities and towns nationwide and growing all the time. And we've partnered with some of the largest corporations in America that market our services to millions of their employees, customers and members and deliver new business to you. The Fetch! Pet Care franchise brand is rapidly becoming a household name, and you can be part of it.

For over 15 years, Hounds Town USA has offered a natural environment for dogs to be dogs. With interactive doggie daycare, overnight boarding, grooming, retail, and a pet taxi, our unique town is home to the happiest dogs on Earth. We’ve spent over a decade perfecting our business model and have a staggering year-over-year average sales increase of over 32%. As a result Hounds Town is home to some of the happiest Franchise Owners on Earth.

At Sydnee’s, our commitment to employing the best stylists in the business results in the best care for your pets. Our founders have committed the last 15 years to developing the top stylist training programs in the pet care industry, resulting in not just a job, but a career path for our employees and an industry-leading staff retention rate of more than 85 percent.

What started out in the back of a small hardware store in 1967 has grown to a nationwide chain of independently owned and operated offices. Caring for a total of more than 1 billion square feet of turf, Lawn Doctor franchisees provide all-season care including fertilization and weed and insect control.

Joseph Lunsford wasn't looking to start a business when he moved into a new home and realized that several pieces of his furniture had been damaged in transit, but start one he did. He founded Furniture Medic in 1992 in response to his dissatisfaction with the long turnaround time that was common with most refurnishing shops. In 1996 Furniture Medic was acquired by ServiceMaster. ServiceMaster's franchise family also includes franchisors Merry Maids, Terminix and AmeriSpec.

Founded by John S. Hagood and John Blaser in 1971, Foliage Design Systems (FDS) provides interior plant products and services nationwide. Based in Orlando, Florida, FDS started franchising in 1980. The company ensures professional care with uniformed staff, all of whom are trained in horticultural services.

In 2002, Brad Fluke moved to Bristol, Virginia, to help his father run the handyman business he had just started. He became the company's president and in 2008, began franchising the Honey Do Service concept. Honey Do Service franchisees offer repair and maintenance services for common household problems.

The grout and tile industry is growing by leaps and bounds, and as a result there is outstanding market potential in the expanding grout and tile restoration market.

A world leader in the residential cleaning industry, Merry Maids has more than 1,100 franchises in 10 countries. For more than 35 years, Merry Maids has been helping busy families by offering professional, reliable cleaning services while perfecting its franchising system so that owners everywhere can share in our brand’s success.

When AmeriSpec was launched in Anaheim, California, its aim was to offer inspection services to homebuyers. The company soon began franchising, offering interior, exterior and structural inspections of homes to potential buyers across the country. In 1996, AmeriSpec became part of ServiceMaster, allowing for co-branding with companies like Terminix, Merry Maids and Furniture Medic. These relationships allow AmeriSpec to offer its customers discounts on services from its partner companies. In addition to the home inspections the company has offered from the beginning, AmeriSpec also performs environmental inspections, checking homes and property for the presence of water contaminants, mold, carbon monoxide, lead and radon.

Craft Beer Cellar™ is on a quest to continue contributing to the advancement of the small but mighty, Craft Beer Industry - an industry that has more than doubled in sales in the past 10 years! There are over 5000 Craft Breweries in the US, with another 2000 in planning. There is enormous potential for growth in this $100 billion dollar industry, as Craft Beer comprises only 11% of the market.

In 1930, Harland Sanders opened Sanders Court & Cafe in the front room of a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky. He was named an honorary Kentucky Colonel in 1936 for his contributions to local cuisine. Colonel Sanders began franchising in 1952 and awarded the first franchise to Pete Harman in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their handshake agreement stipulated that the corporation would receive a royalty of one nickel for each chicken Harman sold.

Jerry Hancock used his background in chemistry to develop a method of flash-freezing ice cream using liquid nitrogen. He and wife Naomi opened the first Sub Zero Ice Cream in Orem, Utah, in 2004, using this technology to offer customers the chance to customize their ice cream by choosing their milk base, flavors, mix-ins and texture. Sub Zero also offers a liquid nitrogen science education program that can be brought to schools.