Franchise Directory

With thousands of customers from all over the world, Molly hopes to mop up the competition. Molly Maid is a residential cleaning service that franchises its business in 34 US states, England, Canada, Japan, and Portugal. In addition to typical house cleaning services, Molly Maid also offers the HOST Dry Extraction Carpet Cleaning System, which is said to significantly reduce the presence of allergens (dust mites, mold spores, cat allergens) in the home. Founded in 1979, the company is a subsidiary of Service Brands International, which also owns home services provider Mr. Handyman and drycleaning companies 1-800-DryClean and the Certified Restoration Drycleaning Network.

Molly Maid’s longtime presence in franchising is reflected in its longevity ranking of #85. The company’s financial strength ranking increased from #217 to #148 this year, and its growth ranking was also up slightly.

The company’s strategy for riding out the recession includes using the Internet to attract new customers (it recently revamped its Web site), helping franchise owners get better at converting prospects into clients, and communicating more with franchisees to share concerns and ideas.

Molly Maid attracts a high caliber of franchisee with a net worth requirement of $250,000. The company offers in-house financing, is on the SBA’s Franchise Registry, and participates in the IFA’s VetFran program.

Last Year's AllStar Rank: 117

Full Disclosure Award
This company gets a nod for disclosing financial performance representations in Item 19 of its Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). For an explanation of why this is important, read The Importance of Item 19 in the Franchise Disclosure Document.