"As the pre-eminent publisher of nine books on franchising, Source Book Publications is constantly asked "What are the best franchises?" Given that there are over 2,300 active North American franchise systems, there clearly is no simple answer. This is especially true given the individual needs, experience and financial wherewithal of a widely-divergent pool of prospective franchisees.".

"To at least partially answer the question, however, our staff has broken the franchising industry into four major segments - food-service, service-based, retail and new (under 45 units) franchises. Within each group, a rigorous, in-depth analysis was performed on literally hundreds of proven franchise systems to arrive at what we feel are the top 50 franchises.

Companies were evaluated on the basis of historical performance, brand identification, market dynamics, franchisee satisfaction, the level of initial training and on-going support, financial stability and various other key factors.".

"The end result of evaluating over 400 service-based franchises is Bond's Top 50 Service-Based Franchises. Many of the companies selected are household names (AAMCO, Coverall, Fantastic Sams, Holiday Inn, ServiceMaster Clean). Others are rapidly-growing, mid-sized firms (FASTSIGNS, Meineke, Merry Maids, PostNet) that are also strong national players.

Still others are somewhat smaller systems that demonstrate sound concepts, exceptional management and an aggressive expansion system (AlphaGraphics, Closet Factory, Sylvan Learning Centers, World Gym). Unlike other publications that tout the "Best Franchises," there was absolutely no favoritism (usually a function of ad dollars) shown to any franchise during the selection process."--BOOK JACKET.