Franchise Direct Scraper — Franchise Listings & Investment Data

Extract structured data from public FranchiseDirect.com directory, category, ranking, search-result, and franchise profile pages. It is designed for franchise investors, brokers, consultants, and market researchers who need a repeatable export instead of manual browsing.

This Actor reads only publicly available pages. It does not log in, submit “Request Information” forms, collect private lead details, or represent an affiliation with Franchise Direct.

What it extracts

One dataset item is saved per discovered franchise profile. Fields are kept stable and use null when a public profile does not disclose a value.

Field	Description
name, profileUrl, sourceUrl	Franchise name and auditable public URLs
category, rank, nativeCountry	Public directory and ranking information
minimumCash, franchiseFee	Publicly disclosed financial requirements, parsed as USD numbers when available
totalInvestmentMin, totalInvestmentMax, investmentText	Parsed and original investment range
availableLocations, territory	Public location and territory signals
description, tagline, businessType, training, imageUrl	Public profile content when available

When to use it

Use this Actor to build a shortlist from a Franchise Direct category, compare public investment requirements, export a Top 100 ranking, or enrich an internal franchise research sheet with source URLs.

Do not use it to submit franchise-information requests, gather contact details behind forms, or make investment decisions without reviewing the original profile and completing independent due diligence.

Input

Provide one or more public Franchise Direct URLs. Directory, category, ranking, search-result, and individual profile pages are supported.

{
  "startUrls": [{ "url": "https://www.franchisedirect.com/foodfranchises/14" }],
  "maxItems": 50,
  "includeProfileDetails": true
}

maxItems caps the total unique franchise rows. Start small to confirm the page gives the fields you need. includeProfileDetails visits each discovered public profile for financial and descriptive details; turn it off for a faster listing-only export.

Output example

{
  "name": "Example Franchise",
  "profileUrl": "https://www.franchisedirect.com/example-franchise/",
  "category": "Food Franchises",
  "minimumCash": 50000,
  "franchiseFee": 30000,
  "totalInvestmentMin": 180000,
  "totalInvestmentMax": 350000,
  "availableLocations": ["United States"],
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.franchisedirect.com/foodfranchises/14",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-22T00:00:00.000Z"
}

Fields vary because brands disclose different information. Keep investmentText alongside parsed values when making financial comparisons.

API and MCP use

This Actor is MCP-friendly: give an agent a narrow public URL and a result cap, then use the returned dataset for comparison or research. The run summary is stored under the OUTPUT key and includes the saved-record count and non-fatal warnings.

Node.js API example

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('muhammadafzal/franchise-direct-scraper').call({
  startUrls: [{ url: 'https://www.franchisedirect.com/top100globalfranchises/rankings/2025' }],
  maxItems: 25,
  includeProfileDetails: true,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

For an MCP workflow, ask an agent to collect a specific public category or ranking page, set a small cap, and compare the returned minimumCash, franchiseFee, and investment fields. This Actor is not a general lead generator: it does not request information from franchises, discover private contacts, or replace legal and financial due diligence.

Reliability and limits

The Actor uses session-aware requests and retries for public pages. Franchise Direct can change page markup, and ranking pages expose a different subset of fields than profile pages. A valid page with no detectable profiles completes with a warning rather than inventing records. Always retain sourceUrl for auditability.

The crawler avoids browser rendering because the target’s public directory pages are available as HTML. It limits concurrency by default and respects maxItems; reducing that cap is the simplest way to keep a research run small and predictable. Public pages may show different financial labels across brands. Parsed currency values are best-effort numbers, while the original value is retained in investmentText whenever it is visible.

Pricing

The Actor charges $0.005 per public franchise record saved plus $0.00005 per run start. A 20-record research run therefore costs about $0.10 before any platform compute or proxy usage. Set maxItems to control the maximum number of per-record charges.

Compliance

Use this tool only for lawful purposes and comply with Franchise Direct’s terms, applicable privacy laws, and reasonable request rates. Public availability does not remove the need for independent verification or investment due diligence.

FAQ

Why are some financial fields null?

Franchise brands control the details exposed on their public profiles. A null value means the scraper did not find that detail on the page; it never estimates missing financial information.

Can I scrape the entire directory?

Yes, but begin with a category or ranking URL and a low maxItems value. Broader runs should be scheduled thoughtfully, with a result cap that reflects the number of records you actually need.

Why does a run return a warning with no rows?

The supplied URL may not contain public franchise cards, the page structure may have changed, or the target may have temporarily limited access. The OUTPUT key records these non-fatal warnings so that automated workflows can distinguish an empty result from a successful export.

Is this affiliated with Franchise Direct?

No. This independent tool processes publicly accessible Franchise Direct pages and does not claim endorsement by Franchise Direct or any franchise brand.