This article is based on a video originally recorded on Vetted Biz Youtube Channel
Franchise Gator, it can be an excellent resource for franchisors that are looking to get leads to their franchise system. However, if you’re a franchise buyer, the selection of franchises currently on Franchise Gator is pretty slim. They claim to be the largest directory of franchise and business opportunities on the internet. And that they work with the big guys.
You’ve heard of the new guys everyone’s going to be talking about soon. And it can be a one-stop shop for business ownership information and research. And we don’t find that true at Vetted Biz.
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They list a very small percentage of the franchises currently available in the United States. And a lot of the businesses on their franchise site are actually business opportunities. They’re not franchises, and they’re top 100 franchise list of 2022.
The first four entries are not franchises. You have a System Centric basing Amazon ecommerce support, Lending Network. It’s different learning opportunities. HealthyYOU Vending, it’s a vending machine license opportunity. And then you also have an opportunity Time To Eat Delivery, which I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out what this business does.
And I don’t know if it competes directed with DoorDash, Uber Eats. They have some positive reviews. I don’t know who those are leaving the review if they’re actually owner operators, and they’re running this delivery food service.
But, trust me, I would not want to start a business and compete with Uber Eats and all that money they’re raising in Silicon Valley. So, as an aside, if you know what Time To Eat Delivery does, leave in the comments section. I’m curious. I could not understand, I just saw that it wasn’t a franchise, no royalty, and that you own 100% of the business.
What Franchise Gator has is a similar issue with bizbuysell. And these franchise portals where a lot of bad franchises need to advertise. And the best franchise opportunities, some of the most successful.
I’ve done prior videos on like Jersey Mike’s, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Crumbl Cookies, you don’t see those franchises on franchise portals. They don’t need to pay for franchise leads. They have so many people reach out to them directly through current franchisees.
The franchisors that are listing on these pay-to-play sites, you have to be a little on the edge about it because why are they pushing so hard for prospective franchisees. Why can’t they get it organically or through franchise consultants, or through some other means, why are they doing it through an online portal?
Where that SBA Franchise Directory has about 7,000 franchises available in the United States, Vetted Biz has a pretty good number of those franchises up on our website. Franchise Gator has just about 200 on their franchises for sale list.
And those 200, a lot of them aren’t even franchises. It’s like become a business consultant for X and Y industry, pay a 30K fee to start. And I saw a few of the business opportunities list in like for online casinos. Sadly, someone complained recently to the FTC January 31, 2022 out to Utah that he found this online casino franchise opportunity, onlinecasinobookie.com through Franchise Gator, paid the 20K. And was promised a website, and didn’t really get the support.
He’s super upset, and it doesn’t seem like there’s any recourse to Franchise Gator whose, I don’t know if they’re vetting the franchise that they’re listing on the website. But I saw a good amount of casino franchise opportunities, business opportunities that did not seem well suited for someone that didn’t already have experience in the online marketing space to just have an online casino up and running.
So the opportunities you have to Franchise Gator, it’s not the crème de la crème because the top franchises don’t need to list. They don’t need to be paying Franchise Gator thousands of dollars a month for franchise lead generation. Because they’re getting that through their own PR, franchisees, network of franchise consultants. They’re getting good quality leads from other ways. So, what you have are some good opportunities on Franchise Gator, but that’s definitely the minority. And a lot of opportunities, as I said, they’re not even franchises. And they’re on the top 100 franchise list for Franchise Gator.
Definitely be buyer beware when you’re exploring these franchise portals. And really understand how they’re making money because your interests are not aligned with theirs. And I saw they still have on their YouTube channel, a video for arguably what was the biggest franchise fraud ever and that was for Burgerim.
"So, buyer beware. Understand how the source of your information gets paid and how they monetize their services".
Big advertisement for Burgerim across Franchise Gator and all these platforms, Facebook I saw ads, Google I saw ads. And they still have live a promo video with a major food influencer with over three million followers on Instagram. And we’ll share a link to the video. I mean, if I was advertising Burgerim a franchise fraud, I’d want to get that off my site ASAP. But they still have the video of this influencer that was pushing Burgerim. And that turned out to be one of the biggest franchise frauds ever.
Vetted Biz is principally getting paid through subscription for Vetted Biz members, as well as few Vetted Biz enterprise clients. We don’t get paid from franchisor lead generation. We’re not selling leads to franchisors.
We’re principally getting paid through those subscriptions, and people subscribe to Vetted Biz because we have good quality data on pretty much every franchise available in the United States.
Conclusion
So, be wary of franchise portals. Franchise Gator, they do have some nuggets of knowledge in some blog posts, but the franchise listings are really sales pitches. And my big qualm with the franchise listings, a lot of them aren’t even franchises.
They had a list of 100 franchises for 2022. Top franchises, most of those aren’t even franchise opportunities. So, be careful with where you get your information.
