What is an FDD?
A Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) is the legal document a franchisor must give every prospective franchisee at least 14 days before a sale. It’s the most important document in franchising: 23 standardized items covering everything from fees and royalties (Item 5–6), to system size and growth (Item 20), to financial performance representations (Item 19), to lawsuit history (Item 3) and director bankruptcies (Item 4). For anyone evaluating, buying, selling, or investing in a franchise system, the FDD is the source of truth.
Why FDD research is broken
FDDs live in state-level registration portals — Minnesota, California, New York, Virginia, Washington, and a handful more — each with its own search interface, its own coverage gaps, and its own delays in publishing the latest filings. Many brands register in some states but not others. International filings, withdrawn FDDs, and emerging concepts often don’t make it into any state portal at all. The result: if you want a comprehensive FDD comparison, you’re piecing it together from half a dozen sources, manually, week after week.
How our FDD database is different
We pull from a combination of state registries, private channels, brokers, attorneys, franchisor submissions, and our own primary research network. The result is the most complete FDD coverage in franchising: 6,000+ brands, including emerging concepts and withdrawn registrations that won’t show up in any single state’s search. Every filing is parsed and structured — fees, royalties, Item 19, litigation, director bankruptcies, unit counts year over year — so you can search and compare instantly instead of skimming 200-page PDFs.
Who uses an FDD database?
Franchisors use it to benchmark competitive fee structures, royalty rates, and Item 19 representations before filing their next FDD. Attorneys use it to pull comparables and precedent. Investors use it to underwrite franchise acquisitions and validate Item 19 claims. Brokers use it to qualify candidates against real system economics. Consultants and franchise sales organizations use it for competitive intelligence briefings, M&A diligence, and trend analysis across the industry.
Frequently asked questions
How many FDDs are in the database?
6,000+ active brands, plus a multi-year historical archive going back over a decade for many systems. New filings are added continuously.
Do you have Item 19 data for every brand?
We extract Item 19 wherever it’s included in the filing. Roughly two-thirds of franchisors publish an Item 19; we surface the data for all of them, including average unit volumes, top-quartile and bottom-quartile splits, and same-store sales representations.
How current is the data?
Updates are continuous — new FDDs are added as they become available. Most active filings are current within the last 12 months.
Can I download the full PDF?
Yes — every record includes the original FDD PDF available for download or API delivery directly into your research workflow.
How is this priced?
We’ll walk you through pricing on the 15-minute call — it varies based on whether you’re a franchisor, attorney, investor, or broker, and how many seats you need. Most teams start with a quarterly subscription.