What the sector pays
Franchise contracts recorded at INPI have a median term of 9.5 years, and 77.8% provide for payment in dollars
Stated contract term, median of 623 franchise contracts recorded at INPI
See the full table (21 rows)
| Subset | Category | Median term in years (filings) | Term, first to third quartile | In dollars | In reais | Median initial fee in US$ (filings) | Fee, first to third quartile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Segment | Food | 9.9 (388) | 9.4 to 10.0 | 94.1% | 3.5% | 45,000 (445) | 30,000 to 50,000 |
| Segment | Retail | 5.0 (110) | 5.0 to 5.0 | 11.8% | 80.5% | fewer than 5 | |
| Segment | Hospitality | 9.2 (58) | 6.5 to 9.7 | 94.3% | fewer than 5 | 15,000 (94) | 10,000 to 20,000 |
| Segment | Education and training | 8.5 (22) | 5.4 to 9.3 | 81.5% | fewer than 5 | 10,000 (24) | 5,000 to 35,000 |
| Segment | Business services | 5.9 (10) | 5.0 to 8.9 | 55.6% | 22.2% | 49,700 (5) | 20,000 to 49,700 |
| Segment | Pest control, cleaning and maintenance | 7.0 (15) | 5.1 to 7.0 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 30,000 (19) | 26,798 to 35,000 |
| Segment | Fuel stations and lubricants | 5.0 (6) | 4.5 to 5.0 | fewer than 5 | 75.0% | fewer than 5 | |
| Segment | Real estate | fewer than 5 | 100.0% | 0.0% | fewer than 5 | ||
| Licensor country | United States | 9.8 (478) | 9.0 to 10.0 | 97.8% | 2.2% | 45,000 (584) | 15,000 to 50,000 |
| Licensor country | Brazil | 5.0 (106) | 5.0 to 5.0 | 0.0% | 100.0% | fewer than 5 | |
| Licensor country | United Kingdom | 6.9 (10) | 6.1 to 9.6 | 30.0% | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | |
| Licensor country | France | 5.0 (8) | 4.9 to 8.6 | 0.0% | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | |
| Licensor country | Spain | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | ||
| Licensor country | Canada | fewer than 5 | 88.9% | 0.0% | fewer than 5 | ||
| Licensor country | Switzerland | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | ||
| Licensor country | Italy | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | ||
| Licensor country | Portugal | fewer than 5 | 0.0% | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | ||
| Licensor country | Netherlands | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | 0.0% | fewer than 5 | ||
| Licensor country | Luxembourg | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | 0.0% | fewer than 5 | ||
| Licensor country | Mexico | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | ||
| Total | All filings | 9.5 (623) | 6.1 to 10.0 | 77.8% | 17.0% | 45,000 (593) | 15,000 to 50,000 |
Payment currency by periodShare of filings with a stated currency, by year of recording. The combination of dollars and reais consists mainly of KFC and Pizza Hut contracts.
| Period | Filings | Dollar | Dollar and real | Real | Euro | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 to 2013 | 324 | 89.2% | 0.0% | 3.4% | 5.2% | 2.2% |
| 2014 to 2018 | 331 | 63.7% | 2.4% | 27.8% | 4.8% | fewer than 5 |
| 2019 to 2023 | 368 | 34.2% | 42.7% | 20.7% | 1.4% | fewer than 5 |
| 2024 to 2026 | 45 | 28.9% | 60.0% | fewer than 5 | fewer than 5 | 0.0% |
Median initial fee by contract year, in three networksMedian in dollars and, in parentheses, number of filings, with a year published from 5 filings onward. The amount also reflects the store format and is not adjusted.
| Contract year | KFC | Pizza Hut | Burger King |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | US$ 37,000 (7) | ||
| 2010 | US$ 45,000 (27) | ||
| 2011 | US$ 45,000 (11) | ||
| 2012 | US$ 45,000 (34) | ||
| 2013 | US$ 50,000 (20) | ||
| 2014 | US$ 50,000 (11) | ||
| 2015 | US$ 48,800 (5) | US$ 50,000 (18) | |
| 2017 | US$ 50,000 (14) | ||
| 2018 | US$ 51,250 (6) | ||
| 2019 | US$ 52,200 (5) | ||
| 2020 | US$ 52,200 (13) | US$ 13,050 (27) | |
| 2021 | US$ 54,100 (10) | US$ 13,550 (45) | |
| 2022 | US$ 57,900 (21) | US$ 28,950 (6) | |
| 2023 | US$ 61,700 (20) | US$ 5,000 (11) | US$ 45,000 (15) |
The recording certificate issued by INPI (the national industrial property institute) states the contract term, the payment currency and the amounts owed to the franchisor, information that the disclosure document (Circular de Oferta de Franquia) provides only to the candidate. In the 623 contracts with a term stated in dates, the median duration is 9.5 years, and half of them fall between 6.1 and 10.0 years. The distribution is concentrated at two levels, 67.1% between 8 and 10.5 years and 24.2% up to 5.5 years, and only 1.3% exceed 10.5 years. Food has a median of 9.9 years, hospitality 9.2 and retail 5.0, the latter determined by the 90 Rio Doce contracts, at around five years, without which the overall median rises to 9.8 years.
The dollar appears in 77.8% of the 1,068 filings with a stated currency, in dollars only (59.8%) or in dollars and reais (18.0%). The combination of the two currencies emerges in 2018 and reaches 42.7% of the filings from 2019 to 2023, against 34.2% in dollars only, but 90.6% of these contracts belong to KFC and Pizza Hut, and 21.9% of them mention the equivalent in reais of an amount set in dollars. The real accounts for 17.0%, and 118 of these 182 filings belong to Rio Doce. Among European licensors, 60.0% contract in the currency of their own bloc or country and 22.2% in dollars.
The initial fee can only be compared within one currency and in contracts of the same nature. In the 593 unit contracts with a fee in dollars, the median is US$ 45,000, with half of the cases between US$ 15,000 and US$ 50,000, and the median by network, in which each of the 41 brands counts once, is US$ 31,916. By segment, food stands at US$ 45,000, pest control and cleaning at US$ 30,000, hospitality at US$ 15,000 and education at US$ 10,000. Within a network, the amount works as a price table that varies with the year of the contract and with the store format. At KFC, contracts signed in 2018 have a median of US$ 51,250 and those signed in 2023 a median of US$ 61,700, an increase of 20.4% in dollars, with an identical amount in all contracts in 5 of the 6 years in the series. At Pizza Hut, the most frequent amount is US$ 13,550, in 44 contracts, and the lowest, US$ 5,000, appears in 6 contracts, 5 of them identified as kiosks. At Burger King, the fee of US$ 45,000 in 2010 rose to US$ 50,000 in 2013 and returned to US$ 45,000 in 2023.
How we calculate
We read the text of the franchise certificates in INPI's open data, file of September 2026, and separated their fields by label. Each measure uses one record per filing number, since a line in the file is a recording and not a contract. The term comes from the first contract certificate without an amendment, from the start date to the end date of the stated duration field, and only the certificate format that has a dedicated field for it is included, a format that coexists with the earlier one until 2017. In the earlier format, the term field is shorter in 5 of the 5 networks with five or more filings in both formats, so its 233 contracts were not added. The currency comes from the payment currency field. The initial fee is read from the initial fee or franchise fee item, in unit contracts, excluding master franchises and development, territory, kiosk or renewal fees. Amounts above 50 times the median for the currency are treated as separator errors, which removed 3 filings. We publish the median and quartiles, with the number of filings alongside, and do not publish cells with fewer than five filings.
What this figure does not show
- Registration is optional and concentrated on foreign franchisors, so the figures describe the contracts that went through INPI and not Brazilian franchising as a whole.
- The stated start date is not always the signing date and may be later than it, so a ten-year contract may appear with just over nine. The term also does not report renewals.
- The initial fee by country can only be published for the United States. The other licensors add up to 9 unit contracts with a fee in dollars, with a median of US$ 49,700, no country reaches five, and contracts in euros and in pounds number 4 and 2, below the minimum per currency.
- The fee in reais has no representative median, because 115 of the 127 filings belong to Rio Doce. Without it, 12 contracts remain, from networks of very different kinds and sizes.
- The fee is the nominal amount in dollars in the year of recording, without adjustment, and 75 filings state a zero initial fee in some certificate, a situation that is not included in the median.
- The stated currency does not indicate which portion is paid in each currency when the certificate cites two, and 6 filings changed currency between certificates.
- A few networks weigh on the results because they record contract by contract, which the median by network helps to gauge. The fee also reflects the store format, information that not every certificate includes.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a franchise contract?
In contracts recorded at INPI (the national industrial property institute), the median stated term is 9.5 years, and 67.1% fall between 8 and 10.5 years. Only 1.3% exceed 10.5 years. Food has a median of 9.9 years and hospitality 9.2. On the networks' own franchise pages, the declared term has a median of 5 years, in 57 networks, as shown by the investment composition indicator.
Are foreign franchise contracts paid in dollars or in reais?
The dollar appears in 77.8% of the filings with a currency stated at INPI (the national industrial property institute), and the real alone in 17.0%. From 2019 to 2023, 42.7% of the filings cite both dollars and reais, almost all of them from two networks.
How much is the initial fee for a foreign franchise?
In unit contracts recorded at INPI (the national industrial property institute) with a fee in dollars, the median is US$ 45,000, with half of the cases between US$ 15,000 and US$ 50,000. Food stands at US$ 45,000 and hospitality at US$ 15,000.
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What the sector paysOther 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.