BP's La Palma, Calif.-based convenience chain, ampm, came in at No. 20 for the second [image-nocss] year in a row.
And making the list for the first time, c-store chicken-based foodservice concept Chester's International Inc., headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., ranked at No. 164.
The report also listed the next 100 franchises. Sioux Falls, S.D.-based convenience foodservice concept Hot Stuff Foods ranked at No. 226.
Quick-service restaurant chains, many of which are well-known gas station/c-store co-branders, dominated the listing, including the top 10. KFC placed at No. 3, Burger King at No 4, Subway at No. 5, Ace Hardware at 6, Pizza Hut at No. 8, Wendy's at No. 9 and Marriott at No. 10.Companies on this year's Franchise Times Top 200, "could not escape the recession's shadow last year," the publication said. "Falling revenues and closing units were common, even among these otherwise strong chains. When adjusted to factor out companies added to or removed from the ranking for various reasons, this year's 200 took in $468.6 billion, a decline of just more than 1.1%, which is not surprising given the struggles last year of many industries in which franchising is common."
On average, franchise systems in this year's ranking are 85% franchisee owned, continuing a gradual increase in recent years; it was 82% two years ago, and much higher than the 77% average, according to the recent study on franchising by the U.S. Census.
This trend will likely continue. Many chains have been drifting away from company-owned locations to focus on franchising. Many chains, such as Burger King, Applebee's, McDonald's, Jamba Juice and Yum! Brands various concepts, have been selling off corporate stores to operators at a steady clip, the report said.
Among smaller companies, most notably Quiznos, there is an opposing trend in which systems open more company-owned locations to combat an inability to get financing for their franchisees, said the report. But most of these systems are too small to fully compete with the major refranchising efforts undertaken by the big systems.
Companies in the 200 have 440,308 locations, and roughly 68% of them are domestic. This is not unusual, and is consistent with the percentage of domestic units in the ranking over the years. Yet a franchise system was more likely to do well last year, said Franchise Times if it had a substantial percentage of international locations, as exemplified by 7-Eleven's 10% growth. Perhaps the biggest reason that larger companies have been able to grow despite the economy is that they have focused attention on foreign markets, the report said, enabling them to expand even if they are largely saturated domestically.
International growth may be most pronounced in the c-store industry. With the U.S. largely full of convenience marts and gas stations, many c-stores have little choice but to look at other countries, and they have been doing so aggressively.
Click hereto view the full report, with rankings.
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