Top Franchise Consultant Companies for Entrepreneurs

Introduction

We reviewed 50+ franchise consultant companies that can help you franchise your business. We’ve narrowed down the list to the top 10 franchise consulting businesses to save you time in evaluating potential providers. If you are looking to start franchising your business from zero or already have 10-20+ units and want to accelerate your growth, you can connect with the following firms.

iFranchise Group

iFranchise Group was founded in 1998. It offers strategic planning, operations training and documentation, franchise marketing and sales, advertising fund management, and franchise recruitment.

Its “consultants have worked with 98 of the world’s top 200 franchisors as rated by Franchise Times magazine. Among them, our consultants have over 800 years of experience in franchising”.

iFranchise Group claims to have helped ASICS expand globally, ASICSwith over 300 locations, College HUNKS with 150+ locations, and Massage Envy with over 1,000 franchises.

Mark Siebert founded the iFranchise Group in 1998 as an organization dedicated to developing long-term relationships with successful franchisor clientele. He has worked with companies like 1-800-FLOWERS, Circle K, El Pollo Loco, FedEx Office, Fidelity Investments, General Electric, Goddard Schools, Guinness, Häagen-Dazs, Hallmark, HoneyBaked Ham, IBM, Nestlé, Popeye’s, Subway, Togo’s, T-Mobile, Texaco, and the U.S. Navy.

Accurate Franchising

Accurate Franchising is a franchise development firm part of United Franchise Group (UFG). UFG owns and operates 8 franchise brands, with over 1400+ locations in 80+ countries.

Since 1986, with the launch of Signarama, they have built, developed and sold over 2000+ franchises in over 80 countries. they consult in all areas of franchising. From companies in the early stages of exploring their franchise options to already existing franchisors looking to improve sales, marketing, or operational procedures.

It is led by Ray Titus, the CEO of all companies that United Franchise Group and its affiliates own.

Rock N Roll Sushi, Joe’s Bagel And Grill, and Malibu Pools are all companies Accurate Franchising works with.

Raintree

Raintree was founded in 2014 by Brent Dowling. Previously, he has worked with Kidcreate Studio as President. Also, with Doc Popcorn as Franchise Development Manager. And International Sales and Marketing Manager at Force Industries which gives him a lot of experience in sales and franchise development.

Raintree claims to “help save you time and money in several ways: by educating you about franchising; by helping you research your business; by identifying the right structure and strategic mix of the businesses you are interested in; and by introducing you to the franchisors that fit your model. Instead of going from place to place, you can get all of this information in one place”.

Brands like Dog Training Elite, NEXTAFF, and Voodoo Brewing Co. work with Raintree.

Fransmart

Fransmart is a leader in franchise development, turning emerging restaurant concepts into national and global brands for over 20 years. The company’s founder Dan Rowe identified and grew brands like Five Guys Burgers & Fries and Qdoba Mexican Grill from single-unit businesses to the powerhouse chains they are today.

Their current and past portfolio brands have opened over 3,000 restaurants in 45 states and more than 35 countries. As of 2015, over 1,000 new restaurants are in development across its current portfolio.

Brands like the Halal Guys, Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, and Curry Up Now are current brands on Fransmart’s portfolio.

Franchise Performance Group

Joe Mathews, the Founder and CEO, has been in franchising sales and leadership roles since 1985. In 2002, Joe founded FPG to study and document what he calls franchising’s Winning Formula. He has also written or been featured in dozens of articles on franchising. These have appeared in USA Today, Fortune, Businessweek, Working Woman, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and more. Joe is the creator/instructor of two classes for the Institute of Certified Franchise Executives (ICFE). And wrote the ICFE study guide section on franchise sales and lead generation.

The group’s services include franchise development strategy, process, hiring, training, management, outsourced franchisee recruitment, SBA financing, franchise lead generation, franchise opportunity website design, and Private Equity placement. It currently works with big names like Arby’s, Subway, BP, and Marco’s Pizza.

CGI Franchise

CGI Franchise was founded in 1996 and is now headquartered in Temple, TX. The company claims that it has “developed the Recruitment Operating System to help brands with just this. We have a deep understanding of how it works, what keeps the wheels rolling, and what will truly deliver shareholder value over and over again well into the future”.

In 2015, Art Coley, the founder, noticed a gap in the franchising industry. Using decades of experience driving system-wide revenues for Top 200 brands, he formed CGI Franchise.

CGI has worked with companies like Alphagraphics, SpeedPro, and the Entrepreneur’s Source in the past and continues to work with franchises like ACASA Senior Care, Christian Brothers Automotive, and Pillar to Post.

SMB Franchise Advisors

Since being founded in 2009, SMB Franchise Advisors has helped more than 350 concepts turn into franchises. It specializes in “Creating and developing operations manuals & training programs, Franchise sales development and compliance training, Assisting with mergers and acquisitions, Brand development launch into franchising, and Financial Performance Representation creation and analysis”.

In 2009, Steve established SMB Franchise Advisors. Is a franchise consulting company specializing in advising franchise start-ups and existing franchise concepts on ways to drive business growth. His experience includes top-level positions with such franchise brands as Hollywood Tans, Saladworks, Rita’s Italian Ice, Restaurant Systems International, and Takeout Taxi. At the age of 21, Steve also spearheaded his franchise operation as the co-founder of Black Tie Express, a start-up multi-restaurant delivery service. Under his guidance, Black Tie Express successfully grew to a 30-unit operation.

SMB works with Junk Baby!, Motel Fried Chicken, and The Urban Cookie.

Big Sky Franchise Team

Big Sky Franchise Team has helped more than 600 owners and business leaders expand through franchising. They boast winning Best Franchise Consultancy and Top Franchise Supplier, in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Tom DuFore is the CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team. He is responsible for the company strategy, vision, and growth.  In his role, he also supports and consults with Big Sky Franchise Team’s Clients on their expansion and franchise efforts.

Tom’s depth and breadth of experience is expansive having personally consulted with and advised hundreds of businesses ranging from the start-ups to some of the largest companies in the world. Some of those companies include: Two Men & A Truck, Massage Envy, Ford, The Bimbo Group, Berlitz, Blimpie, L.A. Insurance, Matco Tools, Spherion Staffing, Criterium Engineers and many others.

Tom spent more than 10 years as a Franchise Consultant working for multiple consulting companies.

He also served as the Vice President of National Business & Franchise Development for the Rabine Group, a National Facilities Maintenance Construction Company with 15 business units. In his role he oversaw companywide Sales, Marketing, and National Expansion initiatives, helping the company expand from $125 million to $185 million in annual revenue in just 2 years.

Pinnacle Franchise Development

Pinnacle was founded in 2015 and provides services with “FDD Support, Dedicated Sales Staff, Lead Generation, Sales Presentation Development, Policy Recommendations, Marketing, Territory Selection, and Business Development”.

The company is led by its President Lory Meyerson. Lory has over 15 years of business and franchise experience. She has owned her own small business for 8 years in the legal industry then acted as the Vice President of Business Development for two national franchise companies for 6 years, and went on to establish a successful franchise consulting firm for the past 3 years, in addition to being an owner herself.

Some of the brands Pinnacle works with are 2nd Family, Bridge to Better Living, Chick’nCone, and Joshua Tree Experts.

Franchise FastLane

Franchise FastLane has been active since 2017- The company claims to be “an accelerated turn-key franchise sales organization (FSO). They work with a limited number of franchisors to perfect their discovery process, bring them qualified franchisee leads and drive explosive growth.”

It was founded by Carey Gille who has 11 years In Franchising of which 5 years are with Franchise FastLane with 2500+ Territories Awarded.

The company currently works with brands like All Dry, Best Choice Roofing, The Brothers That Just Do Gutters, and Hello Garage. Many executives of Franchise FastLane worked (or were franchisees) with Complete Nutrition.

Conclusion

At Vetted Biz, we know that when it comes to choosing a business, you need to do your due diligence. We also know that it’s not always easy to find the time to do your research. That’s why we’ve created this list of consulting firms to consider when researching a potential investment.