Following my recent four-part series on the state of the franchise print industry, it was brought to my attention that I missed a major franchisor. This is a franchise that would fall as Number 7 on the list with 111 sites, between Kwik Kopy Printing’s 220 and Signal Graphics’ 37, and actually ranks Number 2 in terms of average per-store sales at $864,000.

Who is this “mystery” franchise? Certified Printers International, also known as CPrint, was founded by Crouser & Associates, which bills itself as “the country's largest family-based business consulting firm helping other family-based businesses.” In 2005, CPrint sought, and received, franchise registration in all but three states in the United States and Canada, with the exception of two states and one province where registration was not sought.

There are two types of franchises. There are franchises that start companies from the ground up in an incubator model, and there are franchises that sell to people that are in the business. We are the latter type.