The 2006 Industry Report on Franchisee Satisfaction by Franchise Business Review, a national franchise market research firm, revealed that 72 per cent of franchisees believe the growth opportunity for their individual franchise is either strong or very strong.

There were also many upbeat responses from franchise owners about the companies they work for, 87 per cent giving their franchise systems an overall positive rating, while 92 per cent were pleased with the quality of the products and support services provided.

Eric Stites, president of Franchise Business Review, said: "The US economy may be weakening in many places but franchisees are very positive about their growth.

"When you consider the little known fact that the top 50 public franchise companies have outperformed the Standard and Poor 500 by 70 per cent over the last six years, you can understand why franchise owners are so optimistic. More people should stop watching the stock market tumble and consider buying a franchise business."

In addition, on the issue of business ethics, franchise companies received a 91 per cent favorable rating. In an era where the ethics of industry sectors are under increasing scrutiny, this is an important result.

Franchise Business Review said this was its "most comprehensive study ever done on franchise owner satisfaction".

More than 10,000 franchise owners from hundreds of franchisers in over 50 industry sectors took part in the survey and answered questions on a range of topics, including franchisee training and support, system quality, franchisor/franchisee relations, financial opportunity and overall satisfaction.

These results reflected similar positive figures from a survey earlier this year, which was carried out by the International Franchise Association.

It asked its franchise members about how their own business will fare in 2006 and their views on the franchising industry as a whole and for both the outlook was optimistic.

More than two-thirds of franchisers (68 per cent) believe their firm will perform well this year, with half saying future progress will be "very good" and around a fifth thinking it will be "somewhat good".

With franchising overall, 27 per cent commented that the industry is doing "very good" and 43 per cent described it as "somewhat good".