Franchise in Italy started its development after the end of the second world war. We can surely assume that it was born the 18^th September 1970, when the first franchise network, Gamma, opened in Fiorenzuola the first of its 55 outlets. Since 1970 franchise in Italy has been first slightly developing but, only after a few years, it has been starting growing up very swiftly.

Franchise in Italy represents a very interesting system to do business for people intended to start a new activity. Italian franchise still shows an increasing turnover, as demonstrated by statistics. In 2006 we were witness of a growth of 8,3 % compared to the previous year, reaching a turnover of more than 19 billions euros. A growth of 4,22% has been also registered for the birth of new brands in 2006: at the present time we count 766 brands, compared to 735 in 2005. These items  belong to an inquiry made by Assofranchising, Confimprese and FIF (Franchising Italian Federation).

Franchise in Italy represents a very interesting system to do business for people intended to start a new activity. These items  belong to an inquiry made by Assofranchising, Confimprese and FIF (Franchising Italian Federation).

-         Assofranchising: it is the most important and eldest one representing Italian franchise. Moreover, it is a founder member of EFF (European Franchise Federation) and the only one representing Italy in a federation which counts 16 associations, one for each country member.
-         Confimprese: born in 1999 in Milan, it is a private no-profit association, which unites all the most important enterprises to develop franchising.
-         FIF: it was born with an objective: representing the landmark for franchisors and franchisees.

Franchising in Italy is protected by the law: the act n. 129, 25^th May 2004, "Rules ordering the trades affiliation", www.leggefranchising.it.
Franchise keeps on generating employment: during 2006 more than 53.000 new employees were working in franchise chains.

Clothing, food and restaurants, travelling agencies, real estate and credits brokerage are the most driving sectors for Italian economy.

Franchise keeps on generating employment, as shown by the new employment created in 2005. Concerning 2006, a change has been done to the way of counting people working in franchise networks. Till nowadays only the employees were counted to obtain statistics without including the owners, that is, the franchisees. Now also them are counted. Statistics show that more than 53.000 new employees were working in franchise chains during 2006.

Infofranchise is present also in Italy, with its Franchising portal at the link www.infofranchising.it.

Many exhibitions and events concerning franchising take place in Italy every year; the most important are:  Franchising & Trades, which will take place in Milan from the 19^th to the 22^nd October, the REF, Rome, 20-22 April 2007 and Fiera di Catania (Catania Expo), from 9^th to 11^th March. People interested in starting  a new business as master franchisee in Italy shouldn't miss these events.

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Date: 07/03/2007
Source: Infofranchise press

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