St. Louis, Missouri - Stratus Building Solutions, the St. Louis-based franchisor of building services and maintenance franchises, has been named the Number 1 New Franchise, the Number 3 Fastest-Growing Franchise and the Number 13 Overall Franchise in Entrepreneur magazine’s 2010 Franchise 500® ranking.

Dennis Jarrett, CEO of Stratus Building Solutions, said, “These top rankings by Entrepreneur reflect the success of our growing international network of franchise owner-operators and employees, and complement our aggressive growth plans and customer service commitments for the year ahead. These top rankings are especially meaningful because 2009 was a banner year for Stratus Building Solutions and our prospects for system-wide growth and market expansion in 2010 are very bright,” Jarrett said.

Pete Frese, President of Stratus Building Solutions, added, “Entrepreneur’s recognition of Stratus Building Solutions as a top-ranked franchisor reflects our recession-resistant business model, our commitments to be the best in our industry and our continuing efforts to provide the most innovative systems, services, products and support for our franchise family.

“Our Master Franchisors deserve credit for this recognition because of their talents, dedication and initiatives as Stratus Building Solutions business partners,” Frese said.

Stratus Building Solutions today has U.S. operations in 23 states. In 2009, Stratus Building Solutions of Canada was established to serve all ten provinces in that nation, and the company established a new franchise in Lithuania to serve as a model for European expansion. Stratus Building Solutions of Panama was established in 2009 as a business footprint for expansion in Central and South America. Also in 2009, the company introduced its "Stratus Green Clean" line of eco-friendly chemicals, which are “Green Seal Certified” and extremely popular with building owners, property managers and other clients dedicated to environmental sustainability programs.

“This is a very exciting time for Stratus Building Solutions and our growing team,” said Jarrett, who co-founded Stratus Building Solutions with Frese after each worked as executives for more than a decade in the building services industry. “Our vision is to be the worldwide dominant franchise company in the building services and maintenance industry.”

Stratus Building Solutions offers 16 building service franchise plans providing environmentally safe cleaning systems, products, services and marketing support from headquarters at 1976 Innerbelt Business Center Drive in suburban St. Louis. Also, the firm offers an exclusive “Stratus Sani-Proof” program that kills bacteria, including Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), and other germs found in schools, health clubs, daycare centers, gyms, dormitories, medical offices and hospitals.

Stratus Affiliated Services, LLC, a division of Stratus Building Solutions, provides landscaping, energy audits, recycling, pest control, hard-surface cleaning and related services to complement the company’s successful building service franchise programs.

Stratus Building Solutions is a member of the U.S Green Building Council and the Green Business Bureau and in 2009 received the prestigious “2009 St. Louis Award” in the franchising category from the U.S. Commerce Association.

Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500® is a competitive measure for franchisors and a primary research tool for entrepreneurs. The Franchise 500® includes 500 companies that together generate billions in revenue worldwide.

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