Size and presence
The United States accounts for 83.8% of foreign franchise filings at INPI and 59.5% of network brands
Share of the United States in the 1,213 franchise filings with a foreign licensor at INPI
See the full table (17 rows)
| Licensor country | Filings | Share | With certificate | Brands or licensors | Main segment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1,017 | 69.3% | 811 | 89 | Food (569) |
| Brazil | 254 | 17.3% | 152 | 17 | Retail (131) |
| United Kingdom | 28 | 1.9% | 20 | 15 | Food (9) |
| France | 23 | 1.6% | 16 | 12 | Hospitality (7) |
| Italy | 20 | 1.4% | 7 | 5 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Spain | 17 | 1.2% | 11 | 9 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Netherlands | 16 | 1.1% | 6 | 6 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Switzerland | 14 | 1.0% | 7 | 6 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Canada | 14 | 1.0% | 9 | fewer than 5 | Business services (7) |
| Argentina | 11 | 0.7% | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Portugal | 8 | 0.5% | 6 | 5 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Germany | 7 | 0.5% | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Mexico | 6 | 0.4% | 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Sweden | 5 | 0.3% | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Luxembourg | 5 | 0.3% | 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 per segment |
| Other 13 countries | 22 | 1.5% | 16 | 13 | |
| All countries | 1,467 | 100.0% | 1,080 | 192 |
Brands with the most filings, by licensor countryFilings with a certificate in the file. The number reflects the practice of recording contract by contract, and not the size of the network.
| Brand | Licensor country | Filings |
|---|---|---|
| Burger King | United States | 192 |
| KFC | United States | 112 |
| Pizza Hut | United States | 102 |
| Wyndham | United States | 100 |
| Lojas Mercadão | Brazil | 67 |
| Outback | United States | 51 |
| Megalar | Brazil | 32 |
| Taco Bell | United States | 31 |
| Dale Carnegie | United States | 30 |
| Radisson | United States | 22 |
| Orkin | United States | 21 |
| Supermercado dos Tênis | Brazil | 19 |
| Applebee's | United States | 14 |
| TGI Fridays | United States | 13 |
| Hard Rock Cafe | United States | 7 |
| Olive Garden | United States | 7 |
| Shell | Brazil | 7 |
| WSI | Canada | 6 |
| Marriott | United States | 6 |
| School of Rock | United States | 5 |
Filings by filing periodThe column without Rio Doce removes the company that concentrates the domestic filings from 2015 to 2019.
| Period | Filings | United States | Other countries | Brazil | Brazil without Rio Doce | United States among foreign licensors | Brazil in the total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 to 1999 | 136 | 69 | 24 | 43 | 43 | 74.2% | 31.6% |
| 2000 to 2009 | 280 | 180 | 60 | 40 | 40 | 75.0% | 14.3% |
| 2010 to 2014 | 347 | 289 | 53 | 5 | 5 | 84.5% | 1.4% |
| 2015 to 2019 | 360 | 195 | 32 | 133 | 15 | 85.9% | 36.9% |
| 2020 to 2023 | 318 | 269 | 21 | 28 | 28 | 92.8% | 8.8% |
| 2024 to 2026 | 26 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 71.4% | 19.2% |
Segments by licensor originFilings with a certificate, with the segment read from the subject matter of the contract. Segments with fewer than 5 filings are not published.
| Origin | Segment | Filings | Share within origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Food | 569 | 70.2% |
| United States | Hospitality | 131 | 16.2% |
| United States | Education and training | 43 | 5.3% |
| United States | Pest control, cleaning and maintenance | 22 | 2.7% |
| United States | Retail | 13 | 1.6% |
| United States | Unclassified | 11 | 1.4% |
| United States | Business services | 7 | 0.9% |
| United States | Real estate | 5 | 0.6% |
| Brazil | Retail | 131 | 86.2% |
| Brazil | Fuel stations and lubricants | 13 | 8.6% |
| Europe | Retail | 23 | 25.6% |
| Europe | Food | 21 | 23.3% |
| Europe | Business services | 18 | 20.0% |
| Europe | Education and training | 11 | 12.2% |
| Europe | Hospitality | 8 | 8.9% |
| Europe | Unclassified | 5 | 5.6% |
| Canada | Business services | 7 | 77.8% |
The contracts file of INPI (the national industrial property institute) states the country of each licensor, which makes it possible to establish the origin of the franchises that recorded contracts in Brazil. Of the 1,467 franchise filings registered since 1992, 1,213 have a foreign licensor, spread across 27 countries, and 1,017 of these have a licensor in the United States, equivalent to 83.8% of the foreign records. Europe accounts for 150 filings, led by the United Kingdom, France and Italy.
Counting by brand changes the proportion. In filings with a certificate, the text makes it possible to identify 121 network brands with a foreign licensor, of which 72 have a licensor in the United States, or 59.5%, compared with 91.7% of the filings from these same networks. Networks from the United States record an average of 11.0 filings per brand, and those from other countries 1.5. Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut together account for 406 filings. Outside the United States and Brazil, only the WSI brand (Canada, 6 filings) reaches five filings with a certificate.
Domestic licensors account for 254 filings, 17.3% of the total, even though recording served mainly to remit royalties abroad. A single company, Rio Doce, concentrates 118 of them, and without it the domestic share stands at 10.1%. In the series, domestic licensors account for 31.6% from 1992 to 1999, 1.4% from 2010 to 2014 and 36.9% from 2015 to 2019, a period in which Rio Doce lodged 118 filings. Among foreign licensors, the share of the United States went from 74.2% in the 1992 to 1999 period to 92.8% in the 2020 to 2023 period. The sector profile also differs, with food in 70.2% of the filings from the United States and 23.3% of the European ones.
How we calculate
We filtered the FRA modality in INPI's open contracts data, file of September 2026, and counted one record per filing number, since a line in the file is a recording published in the Revista da Propriedade Industrial (INPI's official gazette) and not a contract. The country is that of the first licensor listed, the rule of the franchise contracts indicator already published, and the codes PB and NL, both for the Netherlands, were added together. The series uses the filing year and covers all filings. Brands and segments can only be read in the 1,080 filings with a certificate in the file, since they depend on the subject matter and on the trademark registrations cited in the text, and network brands exclude the families classified as licensors without a network. Cells with fewer than five filings are not published, and the countries in that condition appear combined. This page publishes only aggregates, in accordance with INPI's license.
What this figure does not show
- The country is the declared head office of the licensor, which does not always coincide with the origin of the brand. Networks from the United States appear with licensors in the Netherlands, Uruguay or the British Virgin Islands, and Brazil includes subsidiaries and master franchisees of foreign brands.
- Registration was always optional and ceased to be necessary for remittance and tax deduction, so the database does not measure the foreign presence in franchising, but rather the share that approached the institute.
- The count by filing reflects the practice of recording contract by contract. For this reason, the share by brand is the closest reading of the number of networks.
- Part of the filings do not correspond to a franchise network in the commercial sense, and product or brand licensors represent 35.9% of the filings with a certificate from licensors in other countries, compared with 2.3% in the United States.
- Certificates prior to 2009 rarely state the subject matter, and older filings without a certificate in the file are left out of the count of brands and segments.
- The segment comes from a keyword reading of the subject matter and of the licensor's name, subject to error in isolated cases.
Frequently asked questions
Which countries do foreign franchises in Brazil come from?
In contracts recorded at INPI (the national industrial property institute), 83.8% of the 1,213 filings with a foreign licensor have a licensor in the United States. Next come the United Kingdom, France and Italy, with 28, 23 and 20 filings.
How many Brazilian franchises register contracts with INPI?
Licensors based in Brazil account for 254 of the 1,467 franchise filings, or 17.3%. A single company concentrates 118 of these filings, and without it the domestic share is 10.1%.
Which foreign brands have the most franchise contracts at INPI?
With a certificate issued, Burger King has 192 filings, KFC 112 and Pizza Hut 102, all with a licensor in the United States. The number reflects recording contract by contract, and not the size of the network.
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Size and presenceOther indicators in the same group
Maintained by Marktech, which serves franchise networks and franchises. The brands cited belong to their owners and are mentioned here only to identify the network the data refers to.