Franchise Business Review, a national market research firm, announced today the launch of its annual study of franchisee satisfaction. The results of the study

will be released in February with the presentation of the 2009 Franchisee Satisfaction Awards in San Diego to the top franchise companies with the highest levels of franchisee satisfaction. Previous award-winning franchises have included Adventures in Advertising, Bruegger’s, Cici’s Pizza, El Pollo Loco, FastSigns, Home Instead Senior Care, Interstate All Battery Centers, Jenny Craig, Nathan’s Famous, PostNet, Sotheby’s Realty and Value Place Hotels.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Franchise Business Review has conducted this study, researching nearly 400 of today’s leading franchise brands representing over 75,000 franchisees across North America. With more franchise companies participating than ever before, this year’s project will be the broadest study of franchisee satisfaction ever completed.

“Demand for our research has grown significantly over the last few years with the continued growth and popularity of franchising,” says Eric Stites, President and CEO of Franchise Business Review. “Potential franchise buyers have become very savvy and most people today will not invest in a franchise without third-party data like this to verify that the company is a solid franchise opportunity. Our goal with this project is to help identify and promote the very best franchise opportunities in the marketplace so that both franchise buyers and investors can make educated business decisions.”

Franchise Business Review surveys thousands of franchisees each year to measure satisfaction levels related to their franchise ownership experience. Survey questions cover everything from training and support, system quality issues, franchisor relationship, financial opportunity to overall satisfaction. Additionally, franchisees complete demographic and lifestyle questions to give a 360-degree view of their franchise ownership experience.

Franchise Business Review publishes reports on the top rated franchise companies and distributes data to various media companies. Many of the franchise companies that are researched use Franchise Business Review’s Franchisee Satisfaction Index (FSI)™ to benchmark their annual performance. Franchise Business Review consults with these franchise systems to assist them in improving their operational and franchisee performance and sharing industry best-practices.