How we read franchise disclosures — and how you can check our work.

We don't rank brands, score them, project earnings or recommend investments. Our job is to make the disclosures readable and checkable; the decision is yours, ideally with a franchise attorney and accountant.

1. 1

   Collect

   We gather FDDs filed with state regulators and keep each year's document as its own record.

2. 2

   Convert

   Each PDF is turned into searchable page text, page by page, keeping the original page numbers.

3. 3

   Extract

   An AI model reads the document and proposes figures. Every proposal must include an exact quote from the FDD and the page it came from — it may not estimate, round or combine.

4. 4

   Check

   A separate AI check compares each figure against the quoted wording on its page. Figures that don't match are corrected from the page, rejected, or held back.

5. 5

   Publish

   Only checked figures reach brand pages. Wording the check couldn't fully confirm is shown under "Reader notes on wording" — the FDD's own language always controls.

Spotted something that doesn't match the FDD? Every brand page has a Report an issue link — corrections are reviewed against the document.

We also read Item 1 (company history), Item 12 (territory wording) and Item 17 (term and renewal) where a brand page or tool needs them.

Item 19 is the closest public window into how outlets perform — and the easiest to misread. Before trusting any figure, ask five questions:

• Who is counted. Franchised, company-owned or both? Corporate locations say little about what a franchisee would see.
• How many. A figure built on 12 locations describes those 12, not the system. We show the location count beside each group.
• Average vs. median. A few exceptional outlets can pull an average up. If the median sits well below it, the typical location is weaker than the headline.
• Who was left out. Outlets open less than a year, closed during the year or outside a region are often excluded. We show exclusions when the FDD states them.
• What was measured. Gross sales, revenue or a cost line — and over which period. Sales are not profit, and none of it is owner income.

Franopolis shows each Item 19 group on its own, with its coverage beside it. We never merge groups or average across them. When an FDD has no Item 19, the brand page says so plainly — that's a gap in what's disclosed, not a signal either way.

Openings and closures are counts, not money, which makes them a useful cross-check on everything else. We calculate one simple rate:

• Exits rising year over year, even while total units grow.
• Terminations (the franchisor ended the agreement) versus closures (the location shut).
• Transfers — existing outlets changing hands can be healthy or a quiet exit.

We only calculate turnover for a year whose exit records are complete, and openings and closures appear only when they reconcile with the reported totals. We quote the geography each table covers, often U.S. only.

Some signals don't depend on the franchisor at all. Brand pages and member tools draw on public sources, always named:

• SBA lending records — loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration to a brand's buyers. Evidence that real owners financed real outlets, not a verdict on how they fared.
• Census and BLS — population, households, income and local employment for market research.
• Location data — outlet addresses mapped by a public geocoder, marked when only city-level placement was possible.

Want definitions as you go? See the Glossary, or start with a brand in Explore by Brand.