| --- |
| license: cc-by-nc-4.0 |
| pretty_name: FranchiseDepth Franchise Database (Free Sample) |
| language: |
| - en |
| tags: |
| - franchise |
| - fdd |
| - franchise-disclosure-document |
| - small-business |
| - business |
| - finance |
| - sqlite |
| task_categories: |
| - table-question-answering |
| size_categories: |
| - 1K<n<10K |
| configs: |
| - config_name: brand_summary |
| data_files: brand_summary.csv |
| default: true |
| - config_name: brands |
| data_files: csv/brands.csv |
| - config_name: fees |
| data_files: csv/fees.csv |
| - config_name: fee_notes |
| data_files: csv/fee_notes.csv |
| - config_name: item19_figures |
| data_files: csv/item19_figures.csv |
| - config_name: comparable_revenue |
| data_files: csv/comparable_revenue.csv |
| - config_name: outlets_by_year |
| data_files: csv/outlets_by_year.csv |
| - config_name: turnover_by_year |
| data_files: csv/turnover_by_year.csv |
| - config_name: closure_by_year |
| data_files: csv/closure_by_year.csv |
| - config_name: outlets_by_state |
| data_files: csv/outlets_by_state.csv |
| - config_name: agreement_terms |
| data_files: csv/agreement_terms.csv |
| - config_name: brand_metrics |
| data_files: csv/brand_metrics.csv |
| - config_name: alternatives |
| data_files: csv/alternatives.csv |
| - config_name: peer_ranks |
| data_files: csv/peer_ranks.csv |
| - config_name: value_ratios |
| data_files: csv/value_ratios.csv |
| --- |
| # FranchiseDepth Franchise Database: free sample |
|
|
| Fees, Item 19 earnings, closure rates, growth, outlets by state and agreement terms for 25 US franchise brands, parsed from each brand's Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) as filed with a US state. It is in exactly the same format as the full database, so you can test your queries, notebooks or AI workflows before scaling up. |
|
|
| **Full database:** 2,485 brands, with 13,225 Item 19 figures, closure rates for 1,865 brands and outlet growth for 2,265. Available at [franchisedepth.gumroad.com](https://franchisedepth.gumroad.com/l/franchise-database), along with single-industry packs (food, home services, fitness). |
|
|
| Also on [GitHub](https://github.com/franchisedepth/franchise-database-sample) and [Kaggle](https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/franchisedepth/franchisedepth-franchise-database-free-sample). Compiled 2026-11-01. FDD year of the latest filing per brand: 15 from 2026, 7 from 2025, 3 from 2024. |
|
|
| ## Quick start |
|
|
| Each table is browsable in the viewer above (pick it from the subset menu). To query everything at once, download the repo and use the SQLite file: |
|
|
| ```python |
| import sqlite3 |
| import pandas as pd |
| |
| con = sqlite3.connect("franchisedepth.sqlite") |
| pd.read_sql(""" |
| SELECT brand_name, total_investment_low_usd, closure_rate_pct, growth_pct |
| FROM v_brand_summary |
| ORDER BY closure_rate_pct |
| """, con) |
| ``` |
|
|
| More questions with their SQL are in `example_queries.sql`. No code? Open `franchisedepth.xlsx` or `brand_summary.csv` in Excel or Google Sheets, or start with `README.txt`. |
|
|
| ## Tables |
|
|
| | Table | One row per | Rows | |
| |---|---|---| |
| | brands | brand: identity, FDD year, source registry, hand-checked flag | 25 | |
| | fees | brand: Item 5 initial fee, Item 6 royalty and marketing fund, Item 7 total investment | 25 | |
| | fee_notes | brand: tiers, minimums and discounts as printed | 25 | |
| | item19_figures | Item 19 figure: metric, cohort, outlet count, average, median, min, max, period, FDD page | 388 | |
| | comparable_revenue | brand: one annual revenue figure picked by a fixed rule, for comparing brands | 25 | |
| | outlets_by_year | brand × year × outlet type (Item 20 Table 1) | 219 | |
| | turnover_by_year | brand × year: opened, terminated, non-renewed, reacquired, ceased, transferred (Table 3) | 75 | |
| | closure_by_year | brand × year: closure rate on the method below | 75 | |
| | outlets_by_state | brand × year × state | 2,366 | |
| | agreement_terms | brand: Item 17 term, renewal, transfer fee, non-compete | 11 | |
| | brand_metrics | brand: total outlets, closure rate, outlet growth, all-in fee | 25 | |
| | alternatives | brand × similar brand | 250 | |
| | peer_ranks | brand × measure: rank against peers | 171 | |
| | value_ratios | brand: revenue relative to investment and to royalty | 25 | |
| |
| `table_docs` and `column_docs` inside the database describe every table and column. `AGENTS.md` has the same in prose, with units and what NULL means. |
| |
| ## Files |
| |
| - `franchisedepth.sqlite`: every table, four ready-made views and the column docs. |
| - `csv/`, `parquet/`: each table as a file. |
| - `franchisedepth.xlsx`: every table as a tab, plus a Compare tab (pick up to 5 brands). |
| - `brand_summary.csv`: one row per brand with the key figures. |
| - `brands.jsonl`, `profiles/`, `profiles_by_industry/`, `all_profiles.md`: one document per brand, for retrieval pipelines and AI uploads. |
| - `AGENTS.md`, `AI_GUIDE.md`, `AI_INSTRUCTIONS.txt`: guides for analysts and AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Copilot, Perplexity). |
| - `mcp/franchisedepth_mcp.py`: a read-only MCP server for Claude Desktop, Cursor and other MCP clients. |
|
|
| ## Methods |
|
|
| - **Closure rate** = franchised terminations, non-renewals and ceased operations ÷ franchised outlets at the start of each year, over the latest three years of Item 20. Where a cause is blank, it is filled from the table's start, opened and end counts. Transfers and reacquisitions are not closures. |
| - **Outlet growth** = change in total outlets (franchised + company-owned) between the first and last year-end of the latest three years of Item 20. |
| - **All-in fee** = royalty % + marketing-fund % of gross sales (Item 6). |
| - NULL means not disclosed, never zero. Revenue is not profit. Figures describe the FDD year shown for each brand, not the present. |
|
|
| ## Connect it to Claude Desktop (MCP) |
|
|
| 1. Install uv (https://docs.astral.sh/uv/). |
| 2. Add this to Claude Desktop's config (Settings > Developer > Edit config), with your own paths: |
|
|
| ```json |
| {"mcpServers": {"franchisedepth": {"command": "uv", "args": ["run", "--with", "mcp", "python", "C:/path/to/mcp/franchisedepth_mcp.py", "C:/path/to/franchisedepth.sqlite"]}}} |
| ``` |
|
|
| 3. Restart Claude Desktop and ask, for example: "Which brands here have the lowest closure rate, and what does each cost to open?" |
|
|
| The server opens the database read-only and refuses anything but SELECT queries. |
|
|
| ## Licence |
|
|
| CC BY-NC 4.0: free to share and adapt for non-commercial use with credit to FranchiseDepth (franchisedepth.com). Commercial use needs a paid licence; see `LICENSE.txt`. Information only, not financial or legal advice; verify figures against the FDD before relying on them. |
|
|
