The U.S. economic climate is right for starting a business, but what kind of business should it be? What sectors of the economy are your safest bets in 2025 and moving forward for the next few years?
The franchise model might offer the safest and smoothest route to success. If you own a franchise, the business is all yours, but you follow the template of an already established organization. That franchisor provides you, the franchisee, with the company name, logo, branding, products or services, and ways of doing business that have proven successful for the original company.
If you’ve chosen your franchise operation wisely, you’ll inherit clients or customers who know and trust your brand and might have done business with “your” company at other locations, long before you even thought about launching your own business. That goes well beyond the response you might get as a traditional startup venture with no brand recognition whatsoever.
But not all franchise operations are created equally. Some have a better track record than others and are among the fastest-growing franchises on the market. Similarly, some industries offer more advantages than others. Some might give you more bang for your buck as a result of various factors and what’s going on in the world and the culture today.
So here’s our prediction for some of the hottest franchise industries today and over the next five years or so.
5 of the Hottest Franchise Opportunities Today (and in Years to Come)
The category list that follows should in no way limit your search for the best franchise to invest in. But in trending franchise opportunities over the next few years, this is a good place to start your search.
1. Home Services
As a nation, we’re in a serious housing crisis. Blame construction costs, tariffs, the price of lumber, or other factors, the bottom line is that we lack somewhere between about 15 million and 5.5 million units. The shortage is a double whammy because it means that the existing stock in many cities gets pushed up well beyond the means of most people.
Coastal cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Boston, among others, are virtually “unliveable” for average Americans, with home prices that can get into seven figures.
One solution is to keep your existing home for as long as possible. If you keep it properly maintained and remodeled, it won’t just be more comfortable and visually appealing. It will increase home value and help you get a higher selling price when you look into moving.
This creates a prime opportunity for plumbers, electricians, roofers, interior and exterior painters, landscapers, and others who can keep your place looking and operating optimally. You’re probably best off owning a business in this category if you have a background in or at least a knack for this sort of hands-on workmanship.
Leading franchisors include Fish Window Cleaning, Roto-Rooter, and Mr. Handyman, among many others.
2. Fast Casual Dining
Think of the fast casual restaurant category as fast food for adults. Yes, you’ll order your meal at a counter, and it will be prepared quickly, though perhaps not as fast as the burger and fries you craved as a kid. Your menu options will likely be healthier than traditional fast food, too, and you’ll sit in pleasant, relaxed surroundings and probably not witness any food fights by the kids at the next table.
As pleasing as the experience is likely to be, it’s not fine dining in terms of cost or time commitment. At-home workers can meet business associates or clients at such a space without looking cheap, but it won’t break the bank.
Good examples of fast casual restaurant franchisors include Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain. Make sure you read the Franchise Disclosure Document that your franchisor must give you. In the case of Panera Bread, you must buy a territory and commit to establishing about 15 units within a six-year period, so you’ll need significant investment capital behind you.
3. Insurance
This category doesn’t excite many end-users, at least not until they need this vital product. Nevertheless, it’s always one of the hottest franchise industries on the market. Here’s why.
All but two U.S. states demand that licensed drivers have at least minimal auto insurance coverage. No lender will finance a home mortgage until they’re sure that the borrower has homeowners insurance. Even property managers are getting into the act, with more and more of them requiring prospective tenants to have renters insurance.
The point is, this category will be among the best franchise opportunities in 2025 — and likely far beyond. One leading contender for your franchising investigatory attention in this category is Freeway Insurance.
4. Senior Care At-Home Services
America is aging. That’s an easy statistic to trace. Today, 18.6% of the population is 65-plus. That age demographic is expected to exceed the 20% figure by 2030. That will represent some 71.6 million Americans.
At the same time, healthcare and senior housing costs are skyrocketing. If more older adults are able to continue to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible, it will be more reassuring while also reducing the cost for them or other family members.
Franchisors have met this opportunity by providing non-medical senior care at-home services, such as grocery shopping and food preparation, light housekeeping, and errand-running. Franchisors in this category include Visiting Angels, Home Instead, and HomeWell Senior Care.
5. IT and Digital Services
It’s a brave new world out there. It wasn’t all that long ago that business owners had never even heard of the seemingly sci-fi term cybersecurity. Now all business owners know what it is — or had better.
Smart franchisors have taken advantage of the various opportunities to keep commercial clients running their online applications safely, securely, and efficiently. Some of the leaders in this relatively new category include CMIT Solutions and TeamLogic IT. The challenge here is to have access to and be able to compensate highly skilled and probably very well-paid cybersecurity professionals.
How To Choose the Right Franchise Investment
Take your time. Acquire the capital you’ll need, whether through business partners, passive investors, other lending sources, or savings and a working spouse. Share your ideas with trusted financial advisors, such as accountants and lawyers.
Once you think you’ve found the ideal franchise opportunity based on your interests, capabilities, confidence in the franchisor, and start-up capital, you can begin to deal seriously with your franchisor of choice.
Do your due diligence. This means talking to the franchise representative about the company’s viewpoint and then introducing yourself to other franchisees just to make sure the promises align with realities on the street.
Get a copy of the franchisor’s FDD. Remember, this is a document you must legally have a chance to review. It will detail the offer, costs, and other pertinent details. Let your advisors read the FDD too, then bring any of their concerns or your own to the attention of the franchise rep.
Most importantly, don’t sign any contracts or other legal documents until you erase all doubts and you’re sure this is the best business franchise opportunity you’re likely to find in 2025 — and you can’t wait to get started.
Essential Investment Questions
You’ll want to honestly answer all of the following questions as you conduct your due diligence and seek what you hope will be the most profitable franchise business you can find in 2025.
What Is Your Budget Range?
Enough is never enough. To address your start-up capital needs, you can begin by finding ballpark figures online with simple search engine queries. When you ask Google “How much does a HomeWell Senior Care franchise cost?”, you’re given a range of just under $100,000 to about $225,000, and told that this includes the franchise fee, travel, office setup, marketing materials, and other line items.
Shop for franchise opportunities that fall easily within your funding realities. If you get to the point where you want to conduct serious discussions with the franchise rep, you can get more detailed financing information.
Do You Prefer Active or Passive Involvement?
Will you take the reins of the new company as its president and CEO, or do you want to stay in the background and provide the funding for a profit expectation?
After making this determination, make sure it’s clearly understood and fits the expectations of the rest of the team. Staying quietly in the background when partners want your sleeves-rolled-up involvement or professional input can be as detrimental to the relationship as becoming too involved when your partners expect you to just sign checks and attend board meetings.
In short, do all you can to make sure signals aren’t crossed and everyone is doing their part — either passively or very actively.
What’s Your Risk Tolerance?
Buying into a successful franchise operation can be a great route to career success — and a potentially much safer one than a traditional startup. By one estimation, the failure rate for a franchise after five years in operation is about 5 percent, as opposed to a 50 percent failure rate along the same timeline for non-franchise startups.
But the franchise business model isn’t foolproof. Can you take the risks you might find and the obstacles you’ll have to overcome, especially in the early days? Don’t commit until you’re sure this is the way you want to go.
How Important Is Brand Recognition?
“Very!”
That’s probably your answer if you’re seriously considering buying a franchise operation. After all, you’re likely to pay tens of thousands of dollars, or even six figures, on your franchise fee, which basically gives you the right to identify your business with this more established (and, hopefully, respected) brand or products or services. That’s the franchising appeal.
Your first clients or customers are likely to make your acquaintance because they’ve reacted positively to that brand in the past — eaten at a restaurant with the same name, relied on an identical company for plumbing services at a previous home, or bought insurance from a provider with the same corporate name.
If you’ve made your most profitable franchise investment, its brand is known and respected, and draws a loyal customer base.
We Invite You To Consider the Freeway Insurance Brand
Freeway is one of the most potentially profitable franchise investment opportunities you might find in 2025 and beyond. As one of the nation’s largest and most respected personal lines insurance carriers, we’re growing fast. That’s why we’re eagerly opening franchises coast to coast. Give us a particularly good look if you’re a talented sales professional.
You’ll receive top-tier training, ongoing support, and access to a full inventory of the major insurance brands your customers need and want. We’ll even help you identify and attain the certification you’ll need in your state. Our franchise fee is just $25,000 and $15,000 for veterans with an honorable discharge.
Call your Freeway Insurance franchise representative at 877-822-3024 today if you’d like to own your own company and nurture a rewarding career in an ideal industry for growth.
Or give us your contact information online, and we’ll check in with you.
