Three American franchises among Australia's top ten rated franchise opportunities as increased optimism revealed in Australia

New research from leading Australian research house 10 Thousand Feet shows that three of the top ten rated franchise opportunities in Australia originated in the USA. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) November 30, 2010 - SIgnwave part of Fastsigns International took out the second spot behind local Australian franchise Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers. Other North American franchises in the top 10 were Mrs Fields Cookies in third spot and Snap-on-Tools in eighth position. The USA wasn't the only country to make its mark on the $128 billion Australian franchising landscape, with Belgium's Mister Minit, with over 4,000 stores globally, taking out fifth spot and Snooze part of South Africa's Steinhoff group, with over 1000 stores globally, taking out sixth spot.

Australians have one of the biggest appetites for franchised businesses globally, being the second most franchised country per capita with over 1000 franchise systems for its market of 22.5million people.

The topfranchise.com.au review, powered by 10 Thousand Feet, encompassed franchise systems that elected to have their Australian franchisees surveyed and rates the best performers according to how satisfied their franchisees are. Topfranchise have surveyed over 2000 franchisees (from over 80 franchise systems) across Australia in the last two years. This latest survey marks the first time that franchisors with International Head offices have taken out half of the top ten spots.

According to Head of Intelligence at 10 Thousand Feet and topfranchise.com.au, Ian Krawitz, franchise opportunities originating from overseas have proven to be hugely popular when the right staff are in place at their Australian Master franchises or subsidiaries. "Franchise concepts that come to Australia from the USA and Europe tend to be proven business models in their own original market and so have a greater chance of success for their franchisees in the Australian market than a new start-up Australian franchising brand. What made the international franchise opportunities that made it into the top ten excel was the quality and longevity of their management team." Krawitz said

This latest review saw Snooze who entered the top 10 for the first time last May, jump to sixth spot and Signwave move from fourth into second place. Krawitz said "We have seen two fantastic turnaround stories for Signwave and Snooze in the past three years. They have put in place new management who have excelled in supporting their franchisees and driving profitability for franchisees. We have also seen the continued performance of Mrs Fields Cookies whose brand was rejuvenated in this country four years ago when a new Master Franchisor who had 20 plus years local franchising experience and an appetite for growing the business took over. The story behind Mr Minit's and Snap-on Tool's consistent performance has been that they have managed to retain the services of talented passionate senior management executives who are seen as thought leaders globally within their own franchise groups for over a decade."

Texas, USA based Signwave, part of a global network of over 500 stores, whose Australian headquarters are in Australia's second biggest city Melbourne was the best of the internationals taking out top 3 placing's in the awards categories of Support, Lifestyle and Financial. Andrew Mckay, General Manager, Signwave Australia said the awards were a concerted team effort "Improving support to the franchisees has been one of our main focuses over the past couple of years, so performing well in the support category is testimony to the strong focus our support team have had on frequent contact with our franchisees and a firm but fair approach to mentoring and guiding our franchisees to their goals. Performing well in the financial stakes has been down to the sign business being a sector in Australia with good margins. Good margins coupled with good market conditions have led to record resale prices for our franchisees over the last 12 months." Mckay said.

California, USA based Mrs Fields Cookies, part of a global network of over 500 stores, whose Australian headquarters are in Australia's largest city, Sydney, was the best of the food businesses. An area Mrs Fields excelled in was franchisee passion, taking out the number two position for having Australia's most passionate franchisees. Managing Director of Mrs Fields Australia, Andrew Benefield, said, "Franchisees passion for our business is just fantastic. I have been around the Australian franchise industry for over 22 years now in various different types of franchise businesses from petrol and convenience retailing to business to business services and I've never been part of such a passionate optimistic group of franchisees."

Wisconsin,USA based Snap-on-tools, part of a global network of 4000 trucks, whose Australian headquarters are in Sydney performed consistently well across key areas including financial pay back for franchisees and the lifestyle franchisees are able to achieve by being part of the Snap-on-tools franchise. This Led to a top five placement in franchisees willingness to recommend the business. Australian National Franchise Manager, Nicholas Hudson, said it was doing the little things well that helped Snap-on-tools to take out fourth position for franchisees willingness to recommend the business, "To be fourth placed in the referral category with our franchisees happy to recommend us to friends and family shows that franchisees are happy that we are getting the little things right and trust that we will deliver time and again."

Australian born and bred businesses to look out for internationally who made the top 10 franchise opportunities were mortgage brokers Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers and Mortgage Choice, coming in at number one and four respectively in the overall rankings, Electrical and whitegoods rental company Mr Rental coming in at number seven, Telecommunications specialist Telcoinabox coming in at number nine and Computer Games retailer and trader Gametraders at number ten.

The Australian economy's growth is one of the healthiest in the OECD. Indicators show this health to be similar in Australia's franchising industry with Australian group offices remaining optimistic about growth, with 7 in 10 franchisors feeling they will recruit more in the coming year according to research from 10 Thousand Feet's Franchisor Expansion Study 2010. And according to Krawitz, there are strong indications that franchisees are more optimistic as well. "Franchisees willingness to recommend their franchise system is a key indicator of satisfaction and we have seen a 4% rise in sentiment in the past 12 months amongst Australian franchisees." Krawitz said

topfranchise.com.au is a free resource for potential franchisees. Leading Australian Research house 10 THOUSAND FEET started the annual Australian franchise channel review 2 years ago. Potential franchisees can review the best performers in key categories. To mark the occasion of the awards release 10 Thousand Feet are running a special webinar looking at how to improve the work life balance and lifestyle of Australia's franchisees and small business owners. Ian Krawitz from 10 Thousand Feet will be joined by guest panellists including Andrew Mckay, General Manager from Signwave Australia and Alan Payne, General Manager from Mr Rental. The Webinar is sponsored by Citrix Online's GoToMeeting and Franchising Magazine and will be held at 12pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday the 8th of December. To register go to www.10thousandfeet.com

For further information or to arrange interviews with Ian Krawitz or spokespeople from the new top 10 please contact:
Ian Krawitz, 10 Thousand Feet Tel: +612 8080 7544 website: http://www.10thousandfeet.com or http://www.topfranchise.com.au

Notes to editors:
The key criteria taken into account by topfranchise.com.au include;
- Renewal: intention of franchisees to renew their agreement beyond the current term
- Recommendation: willingness to recommend a franchise to friends and colleagues
- Financial: The salary and return on investment franchisees feel they can receive
- Lifestyle: whether franchisees are satisfied with the lifestyle their franchise affords them
- Passion: how passionate franchisees are about the brand, product or service they offer
- Support: examining levels of support offered by the franchisor
- Opportunities: whether franchisees feel there are opportunities to expand their business within the system

topfranchise.com.au Overall Top 10 November 2010

Rank Company name
1 Smartline
2 Signwave
3 Mrs Fields
4 Mortgage Choice
5 Minit
6 Snooze
7 Mr Rental
8 Snap-on Tools
9 Telcoinabox
10 Gametraders

topfranchise.com.au is a free consumer service powered by research house 10 THOUSAND FEET. Topfranchise.com.au is supported by subscription fees paid by franchisors for surveying their franchisees. It allows users to benchmark franchisors against average industry performance across seven categories and provides links to franchisor websites, news articles, video profiles & testimonials. Ratings in each category are updated bi-annually, based on the results of 10 THOUSAND FEET's ongoing Franchisee Satisfaction Surveys.

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