When you buy a franchise you get a territory. You know you will not have to compete with anyone else. If the brand thinks it would be good to have a store a few blocks from yours they will either offer you the new store first, or give you a guarantee that your business won't suffer for the competition.
While there is risk, if you buy a franchise and work hard it is a path to a nice life. You won't become richest person in the world, but you should be able to get to upper middle class. The first 30 years are mostly paying the bank though, so be prepared for a long term investment (but after 30 years you can sell your franchise and get the equity back - enough to retire on).
Note that I started with should. Some franchises are better than others. Some will try to sell you a bad territory where it is impossible to live on the earnings. Some will force you to buy (sell) product that your customers don't want. It can be a good deal, but it can also be a ticket to bankruptcy.
If the franchisee doesn't own the land or building, it doesn't sound like they have any equity. All they have is the licensing agreement with the brand, which I'm sure has an expiration date, but all the power rests with the brand. Unless there's a clause in the franchising agreement that forces the brand to only license to you, the franchisee doesn't seem to be left with anything at the end of the licensing term.
Owning the land/building is often a negative for a small business - you want to focus on managing your business not maintaining your building (an accountant can explain other reasons why renting is usually better).
This doesn’t sound appealing to me. How much time do most franchise owners spend in the store themselves over the 30 years because they don’t want to pay employees? (That sounded harsh wasn’t meant to).
Say you’re a first generation immigrant, I understand why you would do that for your family but would you ever want that for your kids or would you just send them to college to do almost anything else?
When first starting you generally have to work long hours, but after a few years you get better. If you are good at business, you can own 6 franchises and pull in $200k + per year working 40 hours a week. However other franchises do not really allow you do own more than one, it is entirely possible that you are buying a $60/year job working 50 hour weeks (this is a great deal for immigrants). These numbers assume you are good at the business side and the franchise is one of the good ones that wants you to succeed. If either of those fail you take the losses.