Among Hottest Franchises

Several Southern California-based franchise operations are among the best and the fastest-growing, according to a survey printed by Los Angeles-based Entrepreneur magazine in its January issue.

Irvine-based Taco Bell, Glendale-based Baskin-Robbins and La Mirada-based Denny’s ranked sixth, seventh and eighth among the top 10 franchises in the nation, based on Entrepreneur’s formula that takes into account such things as start-up costs, growth rate, the number of years in business and in franchising, and the total number of franchise and operating units.

However, Entrepreneur warned that readers “should always conduct your own independent investigation before you invest money in any franchise.”

Entrepreneur determined that the nation’s top five franchise operations are Domino’s Pizza, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King and Hardee’s Restaurants. Wendy’s hamburger chain ranked ninth and Church’s Fried Chicken took the 10th spot.

Long Beach-based Dial One, a property services firm, was the sixth fastest-growing franchise operation in the country. The five fastest-growing franchises where the same companies, led by Domino’s Pizza, that grabbed the five top franchise spots, the study found.

Among the best new franchise businesses--that is, companies that started franchising during the past five years--San Diego-based Jack-in-the-Box was second, La Mirada-based Winchell’s Donut House was fourth, Anaheim-based Carl’s Jr. was ninth and Dial One was 10th.

Dial One took third place among the top low-investment franchises requiring a minimum investment of less than $10,000 and Carlsbad-based Jazzercise was fourth.

The 500 franchises listed by Entrepreneur required investments ranging from less that $1,000 to more than $1 million.