December 2025 Methodology
BoeFly announced its most recent Franchise Growth Confidence Index- the quarterly BoeFly survey measuring how certain economic conditions and external factors affect franchisors’ growth. Between November 1 and November 20, 2025, we surveyed franchisor executives to determine if there were any significant changes in franchisor sentiment regarding domestic franchise growth.
Participants rated their confidence on a scale of 1 (not confident) to 7 (completely confident) about whether they expect their brand to achieve growth targets this year. Additionally, respondents answered several questions designed to assess the impact of specific external conditions on their confidence level.
Results
This quarter, 42.9% of franchisors expressed some level of confidence in meeting their growth targets- down from 56% in Q3 and 72.7% in Q1, marking the lowest confidence level of 2025. Additional insights include:
- 57.1% of franchisors reported not being very confident or not confident at all, reflecting heightened concern as year-end approaches.
- Interest rates remain a major obstacle, with 71.4% agreeing they negatively impact growth plans- up from 64% in Q3, reversing the easing trend seen earlier.
- Inflation continues to weigh on development goals, with 61.9% agreeing it hurts growth, up from 52% in Q3 but still below Q1’2 75.7%.
- Government shutdown and SBA disruptions emerged as significant new concerns, with 71.4% indicating these events negatively impacted growth plans.
- Recent SBA policy changes, including collateral requirements for loans over $350,000, drew mixed reactions: 47.6% agreed or strongly agreed they hurt growth, while an equal share disagreed.
