See which franchises have the most SBA 7(a) loans outstanding and their default rates. In addition see which franchises have the highest Small Business Administration Loan default rates.
While a particular business may fail for many reasons one of the benefits of a franchise is name recognition and business systems. A high default rate may indicate that the business systems are not resilient and effective. Make sure you both know the value of the business you are buying (we are business valuators providing SBA business valuations after all) and know how successful other owners are.