Vet News: Annual Military Friendly Franchises Survey Opens Today

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- G.I. Jobs' first annual Military Friendly Franchises survey opened today at www.militaryfranchising.com/survey. Deadline for survey completion is November 6.

The online survey is the primary tool used to determine which franchises do the most to recruit military veterans as franchisees and which offer the greatest support in their success. The G.I. Jobs Military Friendly Franchises list will be released in January 2010 and will grace the covers of both G.I. Jobs and Vetrepreneur magazines.

Veterans have always been viewed as a premier franchisee group. Recent improvements by the SBA to enable veterans to secure small business loans have fueled the fierce competition for recruiting veterans as franchisees.

Veterans are twice as likely to own a business as non-veterans. According to Census data, one in seven veterans owns a business, compared to only one in fourteen non-veterans.

"This over-representation is no surprise," said Chris Hale, president of the National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA). "Military training and experience teaches a strong work ethic, attention to detail, risk-taking, leadership of young employees and passionate team-building. These just happen to be the same elements required to be a successful business or franchise owner."

James H. Amos, Chairman and CEO of Tasti D Lite, a leading franchisor and a member of the G.I. Jobs Franchise Advisory Committee agrees. "Military veterans are worldly professionals who know how to execute a plan and when to deviate from that plan. They are competitive, success-driven leaders who have the right background to be the most successful franchisees. They drive revenue and profit growth."

The pool of franchisors eligible to make the list is estimated at over 4,000.

"Veterans can choose from over 4,000 franchise opportunities! That is way too many options for a person to evaluate. The Military Friendly Franchises list helps veterans narrow that list by showing which franchisors want them the most," said G.I. Jobs publisher Rich McCormack.

Criteria for the G.I. Jobs Military Friendly Franchises list includes assets dedicated to recruiting military franchisees, veteran-specific training, incentives and policies and the percentage of new and existing franchisees who are veterans.

The Military Friendly Franchises list joins existing Military Friendly Employers and Military Friendly Schools lists that serve as the key rating to enable military veterans to determine where to work, where to go to school and where to open a franchise.

ABOUT G.I. Jobs

G.I. Jobs magazine (www.gijobs.com) has been published by Victory Media since 2001. Victory Media also publishes Vetrepreneur magazine (www.navoba.com), the Guide to Military Friendly Schools (www.militaryfriendlyschools.com) and Military Spouse magazine (www.milspouse.com).