Franchise exit rates by brand (FDD Item 20)

Across the 79 published brands whose Item 20 tables can be compared, the median brand lost an average of 2.6% of its franchised outlets each year from 2023 to 2025 to terminations, non-renewals, franchisor buybacks and other closures. Rates run from 0% (CD One Price Cleaners) to 25.8% (QC Kinetix). Every figure is calculated from the outlet tables in the brand's own Franchise Disclosure Document.

This is a set of published brands with comparable Item 20 records, not a representative sample of all U.S. franchises. Every included record has a completed FDD source check. Records with incomplete verification, source-review holds, unreconciled outlet movements or special outlet-accounting limits are excluded.

Main findings

• 33 of the 79 brands averaged an exit rate under 2% a year, 26 averaged 2% to under 5%, and 20 averaged 5% or more.
• By category, the median rate was lowest in Retail (1.1%, 5 brands) and highest in Beauty & Personal Care (5.2%, 4 brands). Categories with fewer than three comparable brands are not ranked.
• In the latest reported year, the 79 systems recorded 2,503 franchised exits: 1,401 outlets that ceased operations (56%), 670 terminations (27%), 199 outlets reacquired by the franchisor (8%) and 233 non-renewals (9%). Large systems dominate these totals.
• 20 brands ended the period with fewer franchised outlets than they started with: Roto-Rooter (348 to 333), Jack in the Box (2,034 to 1,985), Red Robin (85 to 79), Anytime Fitness (2,318 to 2,271), Massage Envy (1,083 to 993), Pizza Hut (5,302 to 4,956), Orangetheory (1,281 to 1,209), KFC (3,842 to 3,404), Molly Maid (481 to 432), Schlotzsky's (299 to 267), Huntington Learning Center (280 to 243), Sylvan Learning (469 to 433), Papa Murphy's (1,145 to 965), Pinkberry (64 to 62), Jazzercise (5,533 to 5,092), GNC (774 to 643), Supercuts (2,252 to 1,701), Blaze Pizza (296 to 230), Code Ninjas (284 to 238) and QC Kinetix (160 to 104). A falling franchised count can also come from franchisor buybacks, so check the company-owned table on the brand page.

How the rate is calculated

For each year in Item 20 Table 3 ("Status of Franchised Outlets"), the exit rate is terminations plus non-renewals plus outlets reacquired by the franchisor plus outlets that ceased operations for other reasons, divided by franchised outlets at the start of the year. The table shows the simple average of the reported years and the latest year on its own. This is the same calculation used on eligible brand pages. Records with Item 20 rows that do not reconcile are excluded; their printed counts and source notes remain on the brand pages. See the methodology.

Does this measure franchise failure?

No. An exit in Item 20's outlet table is not the same as a failed business. A reacquired outlet may keep operating as a company store, and the FDD does not say why each termination happened. Transfers, where an open outlet passes to a new owner, are not counted as exits; they are shown separately because they count owners who sold or handed over a running outlet. The Item 20 guide explains how to read these tables for a single brand.