Franchise Unit Growth Analysis 2026: Which Brands Are Expanding Fastest

Unit growth rate is one of the most actionable signals in franchise due diligence. A brand adding locations quickly suggests franchisees are finding the model profitable enough to expand, territories are still available, and consumer demand is strong. But growth rate in isolation can mislead — a 50% growth rate on 10 units is fundamentally different from 15% growth on 2,000 units.

This analysis draws on FranchiseStack's database of 188 franchise brands, cross-referencing FDD Item 20 disclosures that require franchisors to report gross openings, closures, terminations, and transfers separately. The result is a net growth figure that reflects actual system expansion, not just headline unit additions.

We rank brands by net growth percentage — units opened minus units closed, divided by total system units — and break down the data by industry sector to reveal which categories are genuinely growing versus which are replacing departing franchisees with new ones.

Top 20 Fastest-Growing Franchise Brands by Net Growth Rate

The brands below represent the highest net unit growth percentages across all 188 brands in FranchiseStack's database. Brands are ranked by net growth percentage. Unit figures reflect FDD Item 20 data for the 2025–2026 period.

Source: FranchiseStack analysis of FDD Item 20 filings and unit count data from 188 franchise brands (2025–2026).

What the Top Growth Data Actually Tells You

Rank 1–3: Early-Stage Momentum Brands

JETSET Pilates (50%), Hydrate IV Bar (45.45%), and Ellie Mental Health (35%) all share a defining characteristic: they are relatively small systems doubling in size quickly. JETSET Pilates grew from approximately 25 units to 50. Hydrate IV Bar added 15 units to its 33-location network. Ellie Mental Health, a mental health therapy franchise, reached 100 locations on the back of 35 net new units.

For prospective investors, these brands offer genuine ground-floor territory availability and the potential to benefit from network effects as systems mature. They also carry the highest uncertainty. A 50-unit system has not yet demonstrated whether its unit economics hold across diverse markets, geographies, or economic cycles. Item 19 financial performance data, when available, is still thin.

Rank 4–5: Large-System Growth Leaders

Crumbl Cookies stands out as the most significant net growth story in the database: 290 net new units on a 950-unit system is exceptional at scale. Adding nearly one-third of your system in a single period requires deep franchisee confidence, efficient territory allocation, and consumer demand that justifies rapid co-location in the same metro areas. Crumbl's rotating weekly menu model — which drives repeat social media sharing — has supported unit economics that clearly attract multi-unit operators.

Restore Hyper Wellness at 30% growth (75 net units, 250 total) reflects the broader consumer health trend. The brand's service offering spans IV therapy, cryotherapy, red light therapy, and other recovery modalities that cluster well with the same demographic supporting boutique fitness. Its growth trajectory mirrors what happened to spa and meditation concepts in the 2010s but moves faster due to social media amplification.

Rank 6–10: Wellness and Food Convergence

Six of the next eight brands split evenly between Fitness & Health and Food & Restaurant — a pattern that reflects two parallel macro trends operating simultaneously. On the wellness side, Perspire Sauna Studio (26.09%), StretchLab (25.71%), and Body Fit Training (25%) each offer single-modality studio formats that are easier to site, staff, and operate than traditional health clubs. Low square footage requirements and recurring membership revenue create a capital-efficient model that attracts first-time franchisees.

On the food side, Dave's Hot Chicken (23.17%) and Insomnia Cookies (19.64%) represent the continued strength of premium fast-casual and indulgent food concepts. Dave's built rapid brand awareness through celebrity investment (Drake, Samuel L. Jackson, others) and an intensely focused menu around Nashville hot chicken. Insomnia Cookies's late-night delivery positioning fills a service gap that traditional QSR and pizza delivery do not address.

Franchise Brands with Declining Unit Counts

Net growth percentage is only half the story. The following brands in FranchiseStack's database show negative net growth — more units closing than opening. Understanding why contraction is occurring is as important as understanding why expansion is happening.

The Subway Situation in Detail

Subway's -3.50% net growth rate represents 1,300 net unit closures — the most significant contraction by absolute count in the FranchiseStack database. But context matters enormously. Subway operates the largest franchise system in the world by unit count. A 3.5% contraction on a 37,000-unit global system represents a deliberate brand repositioning, not system collapse. Subway's leadership has explicitly stated a goal of improving average unit volume by exiting low-performing real estate rather than protecting headline unit counts.

Arby's at -0.80% and RE/MAX at -0.50% both represent mild contractions in competitive categories. Arby's faces continued pressure from the QSR beef category as Five Guys, Smashburger, and Dave's Hot Chicken draw traffic from its core demographic. RE/MAX contraction reflects real estate market cyclicality — the 2022–2024 high-interest-rate environment reduced transaction volume, which reduces agent income, which reduces new franchise openings.

Kumon's -0.50% contraction is notable in a category that showed mixed results overall. The math and reading supplemental education market became more competitive with Mathnasium, Sylvan, and hybrid online models absorbing market share.

Unit Growth by Industry Sector

Aggregate unit growth across all 188 brands reveals which sectors are structurally expanding versus contracting or stagnating. The data below reflects gross openings and closures across all brands in each category within FranchiseStack's database.

Source: FranchiseStack's analysis of FDD filings and unit count data from 188 franchise brands (2025–2026). Closure rate = units closed / units opened.

The Food & Restaurant Closure Rate Problem

Food & Restaurant leads all sectors in net new units (+2,634) but also carries the second-highest closure rate at 55.3% — meaning for every 100 units that opened, 55 others closed. This is not unusual for the food sector historically, but it underscores a critical due diligence point: sector-level net growth figures can mask high churn. A growing food franchise system may be replacing closed locations at substantial cost to departing franchisees while reporting healthy headline growth figures.

The Real Estate sector shows the most favorable gross-to-net ratio: only 10.5% of openings were offset by closures. This reflects the low capital requirement of real estate franchise locations (primarily home office or small office models) and the difficulty of tracking closures in highly fragmented networks.

Fitness & Health: The Standout Sector Story

Fitness & Health opened 1,340 units and closed only 412 (30.7% closure rate) for a net +928 units across the FranchiseStack database. The sector's favorable closure ratio reflects several structural advantages: studio-format franchises carry lower fixed costs than traditional gyms, membership-based revenue provides cash flow stability, and the demand curve for wellness services has been consistently upward since 2020.

Seven of the top 20 fastest-growing brands individually come from this sector, including six of the top eight. The concentration is significant: Fitness & Health is not just growing at the sector level — individual brands within it are growing at some of the highest rates observed across all 188 brands in the database.

Education & Children: The Warning Signal

Education & Children posted the worst closure rate in the dataset at 88.3% — for every 100 units opened, 88 others closed. Net growth of +97 units looks positive until you recognize how close to break-even the sector is running. The dynamics driving this include continued competition from online learning platforms, demographic pressures in certain geographies, and the post-pandemic normalization of school performance that reduced urgency-driven tutoring demand.

Big Blue Swim School at 17.14% growth and Goldfish Swim School at 16.47% are exceptions within the category, driven by the strong demand for learn-to-swim instruction and the difficulty of replicating that service digitally. Both brands occupy a durable niche that the broader education contraction does not affect.

How to Use Unit Growth Data in Your Franchise Evaluation

Unit growth rate is a useful screening tool but not a final answer. The most important applications in a franchise evaluation process are:

• Cross-reference net growth against Item 19. A fast-growing brand that cannot produce meaningful Item 19 financial performance data may be growing on franchisee optimism rather than proven economics. If the average unit in a 50% growth system earns below-average returns, the growth story is being written on borrowed time.
• Distinguish gross openings from net growth. Item 20 of every FDD reports transfers, non-renewals, terminations, and reacquisitions by company separately from closures. A brand with 100 gross openings and 80 closures has a very different story than a brand with 100 openings and 2 closures, even if both report "100 new locations" in marketing materials.
• Weight growth rate by system size. A 25% growth rate at 40 units represents 10 new locations. A 12% growth rate at 2,000 units represents 240 new locations. Absolute unit additions compound territory saturation effects that percentage growth does not capture.
• Investigate concentration of closures. If 80% of a brand's closures are in one region or from one vintage of franchisee (e.g., all 2019 openings), that is a red flag about either regional market fit or the quality of franchisee selection at a specific point in time.
• Ask franchisors to explain their net growth methodology. Some franchisors count unit transfers (ownership changes without closure) as new openings. This inflates gross opening counts without genuine system growth. FDD Item 20 methodology disclosure should clarify this, but a direct question to the franchisor's development team is the fastest way to identify discrepancies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Key Takeaways for Franchise Investors

The 2026 unit growth data from FranchiseStack's 188-brand database points to several durable conclusions that should inform how you screen and evaluate franchise opportunities:

• Fitness & Health is the structural growth story of this franchise cycle. Seven of the top 20 brands by net growth rate come from this sector, and the sector itself posted the strongest gross-to-net closure ratio of any category with physical locations. Boutique studio formats with membership economics are the driver.
• Food & Restaurant leads in absolute units but carries significant churn. The 55.3% closure rate means half of all openings are offset by closures elsewhere in the system. Invest in fast-growing food brands only when Item 19 data demonstrates consistent unit-level profitability across multiple markets and years.
• Small-system growth rates require different scrutiny than large-system growth. JETSET Pilates at 50% and Hydrate IV Bar at 45% are compelling, but these brands have not yet demonstrated economics at 500 or 1,000 units. Evaluate them as early-stage opportunities with corresponding risk tolerance.
• Declining brands are not automatically disqualified. Subway's contraction is a deliberate repositioning strategy. Context determines whether contraction is a warning signal or a quality-improvement initiative.
• Education & Children's 88.3% closure rate demands caution. With exceptions like swimming instruction, this sector is being disrupted by digital alternatives and demographic shifts. Growth within the category requires identifying brands with structural moats against these pressures.