Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake Pizza announced it was named to Franchise Business Review’s list of top food franchises for 2011 based on high satisfaction ratings in a survey of its franchise owners. Papa Murphy’s is one of only 19 food companies out of more than 150 major brands that can make this claim.

“Are we seeing higher satisfaction rates as the economy improves? Absolutely,” says Eric Stites, president and CEO of national franchise market research firm Franchise Business Review. “But many of the award-winning companies have maintained great satisfaction scores throughout the recession and only continue to improve. It’s very telling when you see a franchisor with impressive franchisee satisfaction even when the economy is struggling.”

The survey asked franchise owners 33 benchmark questions relating to the franchisee’s experience and satisfaction as well as market area, business lifestyle, and other demographic questions. As in years past, Papa Murphy’s outscored the average of all other food industry participants in all categories.

“For the franchisee-franchisor relationship to be successful it needs to be a true partnership where each party respects and trusts the other during both the good and bad times,” says John Barr, CEO of Papa Murphy’s. “I‘m very proud of the relationship we have with our franchise partners and am pleased to see that they feel the same about us.”