Search franchise cards on Franchise Direct. Send a keyword such as coffee or food, or a listing URL on franchisedirect.com (search, directory, or category). The response is { results, pagination }.
Each card has minimum_cash_required_display as printed, for example $60,000, and minimum_cash_required as the matching whole-dollar number, 60000. Pass results[].url to /v2/franchisedirect/franchise.
GET and POST take the same query.
GET https://api.piloterr.com/v2/franchisedirect/search?query=coffee
GET https://api.piloterr.com/v2/franchisedirect/search?query=food
coffee returns CoffeeNow at https://www.franchisedirect.com/coffee-franchises/coffeenow with $60,000 / 60000. The same brand's profile call returns that same cash pair.
| Parameter |
Required |
Example |
query |
yes |
coffee |
query is required. An empty value returns 400. A URL must be on franchisedirect.com. A profile path (two segments, such as /coffee-franchises/coffeenow) returns 400 here because it belongs on the franchise endpoint. A search, directory, or category URL is a listing.
Keyword listings such as coffee, food, and cleaning come back as one page. pagination.page is 1. pagination.next is null when the HTML has no Next link. pagination.total_results and pagination.total_pages are null because the page does not print those totals. pagination.per_page is the number of cards parsed.
The site does not honor a hand-built page=2 on a listing that has no pager. https://www.franchisedirect.com/search?q=coffee&page=2 returns the same six coffee cards, page stays 1, and next stays null. When the HTML does contain a Next or Previous link, next is that URL and page is read from the page query parameter.
Card URLs are unique. minimum_cash_required is the first number inside minimum_cash_required_display.
| Field |
Type |
Meaning |
results[].name |
string |
Franchise name |
results[].url |
string |
Profile URL |
results[].description |
string or null |
Card summary |
results[].category |
string or null |
Category from the profile path, such as Coffee Franchises |
results[].minimum_cash_required |
number or null |
Minimum cash in whole dollars |
results[].minimum_cash_required_display |
string or null |
Printed USD amount, such as $60,000 |
results[].image |
string or null |
Logo URL |
pagination.page |
integer |
1 when the page has no pager |
pagination.per_page |
integer or null |
Cards on this page |
pagination.total_results |
null |
Not printed on these listings |
pagination.total_pages |
null |
Not printed on these listings |
pagination.next |
string or null |
Next listing URL, or null when no Next link is present |
- Compare minimum cash for coffee concepts, using
$60,000 on CoffeeNow against $175,000 on PJ's Coffee in the same coffee response.
- Scan a
food keyword for mobile and storefront brands, then keep each profile URL for a fee and investment lookup.
- Build a shortlist where the displayed dollars and the numeric minimum describe the same amount before anyone opens the profile.
| Code |
Meaning |
400 |
Empty query, a profile URL, or a domain outside franchisedirect.com |
401 |
Missing API key |
404 |
The page was not a listing |
500 |
The fetch failed |
Franchise Direct Franchise
