Entrepreneur Magazine - Tracy Stapp HeroldThese brands are fresh, new, innovative, and looking for forward-thinkers just like you.
Do you like getting somewhere first? Introducing new things to the world? Then you'll love this list — because we've rounded up the strongest emerging franchises in the industry, all of which are looking for franchisees to join them on a big new adventure.
There are a lot of interesting brands to choose from. Some offer spins on already well-represented categories, such as fitness, real estate, hamburgers, and lawn care. Others work to create entirely new concepts like iced-tea drive-thrus, clear kayak tours, mental health clinics, and dog wellness services. What you're seeing represents a wave of new energy in the franchise space, as founders realize that franchising can help their brands grow quickly and efficiently. It's why, of the more than 1,000 brands that applied to be on our annual Franchise 500 list last year, 360 of them had only been franchising for five years or less! That's a lot of newness.
Whatever your taste, if you're interested in getting in on the ground floor of a young franchise opportunity, there's something in franchising for you — and it's why we made this list. Keep in mind, though, that this list is not intended as an endorsement of any particular business. Our list can serve as a great jumping-off point, but it's essential that you also do your due diligence when researching franchise opportunities. That should include consulting with an attorney and an accountant, reading the company's legal documents, and talking to franchisees about their experiences.
What’s New at HTeaO
How does a drive-thru iced tea franchise sell more than 400 franchises in five years, and earn No. 9 on this list? We spoke with HTeaO’s chief development officer Andrew Hawes to learn why franchisees see the brand as a sweet opportunity.
To what do you attribute HTeaO’s growth? It’s a model built around the most profitable part of a restaurant. Any restaurant owner will tell you beverages are where the money is made. We eliminated the frustration and equipment that goes with food preparation. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that water, tea, and ice are not too terribly expensive, so the margins can be very lucrative. I think people can visualize, Hey, this is something I can do. I don’t need culinary experience or a background in restaurant management.
What types of franchisees has HTeaO attracted? In the beginning, it was a lot of second-career-type people—people who said, “I’d love to build a business for myself, but I need that support mechanism of a franchise.” So for the first few years, our growth was heavily weighted toward single-unit operators, and they’ve been fantastic. Now that we’ve built some brand awareness, we’re starting to attract multi-unit, multi-brand franchise partners, which is extremely humbling. I still view us as a very young, unknown brand, so to have someone with 20 or 30 years of experience in the space take a leap of faith means a lot to our team. We’re still going to welcome single-unit franchisees, but bringing on multi-unit partners who can do five to 20 stores over a shorter period because they have the infrastructure already in place is really going to be key to our growth going forward.
