Minnesota Franchise Registrations Scraper

Free plan limit: Free-plan users can receive up to 5 result records per run. Paid-plan and local/unknown runs retain the Actor's existing limits.

Searches the Minnesota Department of Commerce CARDS public portal for franchise-registration documents. The actor returns the franchisor and franchise names, document title and type, filing year, file number, notes, received/added dates, and direct public document URL.

Input

• searchTerm — optional franchisor name. Leave blank to return documents for the current filing year.
• maxResults — 1–250 records, default 25.
• includeDocuments — includes the direct public URL in documentUrls; documentUrl is always returned, default true.
• requestDelayMs — delay between portal requests, default 1200 ms.

Source and limitations

Source: Minnesota Commerce CARDS. Minnesota describes CARDS as a public search containing franchise-registration information and documents from the last 10 years. This actor only uses public pages and does not log in to ComOnline or retrieve private filings. Portal markup and access controls can change; an access problem is reported as a warning/error rather than fabricated records.

Pricing

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing. These are the current Apify Store event prices:

Event	Price (USD)	When it is charged
registration-result	FREE: $0.015; BRONZE: $0.015; SILVER: $0.015; GOLD: $0.01; PLATINUM: $0.01; DIAMOND: $0.01	Minnesota Franchise Registration — Charged once for each schema-valid public Minnesota franchise-registration record returned.

Apify platform usage for this Actor run is included alongside the event prices above; no separate per-run platform-usage fee is passed to users.

This covers Apify platform usage for this Actor run. Other Apify products or usage outside this Actor run may still follow your account plan.

Local development

npm install
npm test

What data does Minnesota Franchise Registrations Scraper return?

Field	Type	Description
franchisorName	string	Franchisor name
registrationStatus	string or null	Registration status
submissionType	string or null	Submission type
registrationDate	string or null	Registration / effective date
renewalDueDate	string or null	Renewal due date
recordId	string or null	Record ID
detailUrl	string	Detail URL
documentUrls	array	Public document URLs
source	string	Source
scrapedAt	string	Scraped at
documentTitle	string	CARDS document identifier
franchiseNames	string or null	Franchise brand names
documentType	string or null	Filing/document type
year	string or null	Filing year
fileNumber	string or null	Minnesota file number
notes	string or null	Public CARDS notes
receivedDate	string or null	Date received by CARDS
addedOn	string or null	Date added to CARDS
documentUrl	string	Direct public document URL

Use cases

• Build public prospect lists and qualify organizations or professionals before responsible outreach.
• Schedule repeatable collection and export results to downstream workflows.
• Run a one-off research job and export the structured result as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS from Apify.
• Schedule the same input to monitor changes over time and send completed datasets to a webhook or integration.
• Feed schema-shaped records into a database, spreadsheet, BI tool, or AI workflow with the source URL retained for verification.

Input example

{
  "searchTerm": "",
  "maxResults": 25,
  "includeDocuments": true,
  "requestDelayMs": 1200
}

Output example

{
  "franchisorName": "VALVOLINE INSTANT OIL CHANGE FRANCHISING, INC.",
  "documentTitle": "37144-202608-03",
  "franchiseNames": "VALVOLINE INSTANT OIL CHANGE OR INSTANT OIL CHANGE",
  "documentType": "Order Amending Registration",
  "year": "2025",
  "fileNumber": "2019",
  "receivedDate": "08/12/2026",
  "addedOn": "08/21/2026",
  "documentUrl": "https://cards.web.commerce.state.mn.us/documents/.../download?documentClass=FRANCHISE_REGISTRATIONS&contentSequence=0"
}

The exact fields depend on the selected input and what the public source exposes. Use the dataset schema as the machine-readable contract and retain source URLs for verification.

Run Minnesota Franchise Registrations Scraper with the Apify API

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('muhammadafzal/minnesota-franchise-registrations-scraper').call({
  "searchTerm": "",
  "maxResults": 25,
  "includeDocuments": true,
  "requestDelayMs": 1200
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

You can also run the Actor from Apify Console, schedules, webhooks, the REST API, Make, Zapier, n8n, or the hosted Apify MCP server.

Responsible use

Use this Actor only for data you are authorized to access. Follow the target website's terms, robots and access policies, and applicable privacy, database, copyright, anti-spam, and data-protection laws. Do not use it to bypass authentication or other access controls, collect private data, harass people, or make high-impact decisions without independent verification.

Support

When reporting a problem, include the Actor run ID, a redacted input, the expected result, and a small public example URL when applicable. Do not post API tokens, cookies, credentials, or personal data in an issue.

Frequently asked questions

Can I schedule Minnesota Franchise Registrations Scraper?

Yes. Use an Apify schedule to run the same saved input at a chosen interval, then connect a webhook or integration to process the dataset when the run finishes.

How should I test a new input?

Begin with the prefilled example or a small limit. Confirm that the output fields, source coverage, runtime, and live charges match your workflow before increasing the scope.

How do I export the results?

Open the run's default dataset in Apify Console and export JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS. Applications can retrieve the same records through the Apify API client or REST dataset endpoint.

Can an AI agent call this Actor?

Yes. Add muhammadafzal/minnesota-franchise-registrations-scraper through the hosted Apify MCP server or call it through the API. The Actor's input and dataset schemas help agents construct valid requests and interpret returned records.