National Franchise Sales

What National Franchise Sales does

National Franchise Sales (NFS) is a privately held franchise business brokerage firm founded in 1978 by Jerome Thissen and headquartered in Newport Beach, California. The firm assists franchisees, franchisors, trustees, receivers, and lenders in the acquisition, sale, and refranchising of franchise businesses, with service lines spanning brokerage, asset recovery (including bankruptcy and receivership auctions), refranchising programs, advisory, and valuation services. Its platform is built around a proprietary database of pre-screened qualified buyers and decades of accumulated market intelligence, supported by a team of 18 advisers and 8 support staff operating from offices in Newport Beach, Minnesota, and Houston. NFS earns revenue on a transaction-fee basis, with deal sizes ranging from single-unit sales to multi-unit portfolios exceeding 100 units; a 2017 milestone cited completed transactions in excess of $100M in transaction value, and recent mandates (a 77-unit Pizza Hut bankruptcy auction recovering nearly $12M in January 2025, a 127-unit Pizza Hut bankruptcy engagement, MOD Pizza refranchising, and a 20-unit Zaxby's plus 11-fee-site sale) indicate sustained and recently accelerating activity. Distribution is direct, via the firm's advisers and satellite offices, complemented by industry event sponsorship (notably the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference), an e-newsletter, a video library, and a strategic alliance with SRS Real Estate Partners to bundle franchise business and real estate advisory.

Name

National Franchise Sales

Legal name

National Franchise Sales

Website

https://nationalfranchisesales.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1978

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

National Franchise Sales is a U.S. franchise business brokerage founded in 1978, assisting franchisees, franchisors, trustees, and lenders with franchise resales, bankruptcy asset recovery, refranchising, advisory, and valuation services through offices in California, Minnesota, and Texas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Franchise Business Brokerage

akta.pro primary industry

Franchise Resale & Franchise Brokerage (Transfers/Resales) (FSAEAIAG)

Keywords

• Franchise business brokerage
• Franchise asset recovery
• Refranchising services
• Franchise valuation services
• Franchise advisory services

Headquarters

HQ city

Newport Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Brokerage Services: Fees earned from facilitating franchise business acquisitions and sales, ranging from single unit transactions to multi-unit sales involving over 100 units, as well as refranchising programs for regional and national franchise companies.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

National Franchise Sales (NFS) is a franchise business brokerage firm that assists franchisees, franchisors, trustees, receivers, and lenders in the acquisition, sale, and recovery of franchise businesses. The firm facilitates transactions ranging from single-unit resales to multi-unit and 100+ unit portfolio sales, and provides related asset recovery, refranchising, valuation, and advisory services.

Product overview

National Franchise Sales is a franchise business brokerage firm offering a unified suite of services for franchise acquisition and divestiture. The core offering consists of five interconnected service lines: Brokerage Services (handling franchise resales and acquisitions), Asset Recovery (managing distressed business sales), Refranchising Services (divesting franchisor-owned units), Advisory Services (strategic consulting), and Valuation Services (appraising franchise businesses). The company operates a web-based listings platform showcasing available franchise opportunities across multiple brands. Founded in 1978, the firm has facilitated transactions ranging from single-unit sales to portfolio transactions involving over 100 units across the restaurant franchise sector.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brokerage Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Over $100M in completed transactions for 2017 alone
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• SRS Real Estate PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic alliance between National Franchise Sales and SRS Real Estate Partners to offer clients expertise in both franchise resales and franchise real estate transactions. The partnership combines deep experience and professionalism of both firms to optimize every phase of the buy/sell process, streamlining closings by synchronizing franchise business assets and fee property transactions.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Sunbelt Business Brokers: Sunbelt is the largest business brokerage network in North America with hundreds of affiliated offices transacting SMB and mid-market deals across sectors. It is the most directly comparable franchise-capable brokerage platform to NFS's national direct-sales model.
• Transworld Business Advisors: Transworld is a leading business brokerage and M&A advisory firm with a strong franchise practice covering resale, franchising and acquisition services. It directly overlaps NFS's franchise transaction and advisory focus with a multi-office national footprint.
• Murphy Business & Financial Corporation: Murphy operates one of the largest business brokerage franchise networks in North America with 350+ offices selling SMBs including franchise resale businesses. Its franchise-broker model and central valuation support system are directly comparable to NFS's playbook.
• FranChoice: FranChoice is a franchise consulting firm that matches prospective franchisees with brands, sitting squarely in the franchise buyer-adjacent transaction space. While it focuses on the buy-side advisor role rather than resale, its target customer (prospective franchise owners) closely overlaps with NFS's buyer pool.
• The Entrepreneur's Source: The Entrepreneur's Source is a large franchise coaching and consulting network helping aspiring owners evaluate franchise opportunities and existing owners with succession planning. Its exit-planning and succession offerings directly overlap NFS's advisory and valuation services.

Emerging players

• iFranchise Group: iFranchise Group is a franchise development and consulting firm that helps franchisors build systems and operators with compliance. It is an emerging adjacent player intersecting with NFS on the franchisor-side refranchising and advisory workstreams.

Others

• SRS Real Estate Partners: SRS Real Estate Partners is a national commercial real estate advisory firm that has a strategic alliance with National Franchise Sales to synchronize franchise business and fee-property transactions. It is an enabling partner rather than a competitor but is tightly coupled to NFS's deal flow.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NFSresales
• Facebookfacebook.com/nfsresales

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about National Franchise Sales