Franchise Direct focuses on studying franchises and their progress each year. When ranking the top franchises, they consider growth as well as financial success that the franchises have generated. In order for franchises to reach the top of the charts, they should invest in the right business model and consider market saturation, location, cost scope and scale for production (Forbes). Fast food chains must carry out consistency and uniformity with their products and brand image in order to increase their success in the market.

In 2013, fast food franchises dominated the rankings and were listed as the top 6 out of 10 on Franchise Direct’s chart. They have noticed a similar trend so far for this year, which makes me wonder when this domination of fast food franchises started and whether it will continue to do so in the upcoming years. I performed some initial research and discovered that McDonald’s created the first fast food franchise in the 1950’s and expanded into the UK, Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1970’s. Burger King, Pizza Hut and KFC quickly followed in McDonald’s footsteps and opened several locations within the same time frame. Subway opened their first US location in 1978 then became international when they started conducting business in Bahrain in 1984. After partnering with Walmart to open businesses inside their super-centers, Subway was able to surpass McDonald’s with their number of operating locations in 2007.