Kukec announces plans to certify Croatian franchises

The Croatian Franchise Association has announced plans to certify Croatian franchises that meet European criteria. Speaking to Women in Adria, the association’s president, Ljiljana Kukec, highlighted an issue affecting the entire franchise community: entrepreneurs sometimes download an agreement from the internet and assume they have created a franchise, even though the document is not backed by sound business foundations.

Certification announced as the next step

In the interview, published on 27 October 2026, Kukec said that the association, a member of the European Franchise Federation, would soon begin certifying Croatian franchises that meet European criteria. She linked the announcement to the need for closer monitoring of developments in Croatia’s franchise community.

This is a planned initiative, not confirmation that certification has already begun. Kukec did not specify a launch date, application process or individual assessment criteria in the interview. Entrepreneurs interested in the process should therefore distinguish between the announcement itself and the practical guidance to follow.

Alongside her role as president of the Croatian association, Kukec was introduced as a member of the World Franchise Council and the board of the European Franchise Federation. She noted that the Croatian Franchise Association has been developing franchise systems for Croatian and international brands for many years. She presented certification as the next step in its work with home-grown concepts.

An online agreement is not a ready-made franchise

The interview’s most direct warning concerned the assumption that having an agreement is the same as having a fully developed business model. According to Kukec, this approach puts both the entrepreneur seeking to expand their brand and the person buying the right to operate under it at risk.

“I believe the biggest problem is that entrepreneurs download a franchise agreement from the internet and think they have a franchise.”

Kukec explained that this puts buyers at risk as they try to build a business on foundations that do not actually exist. Her concern centres on the substance of the business relationship, rather than simply the existence of a signed document.

For prospective franchisees, this raises a practical question: what exactly underpins the agreement on offer? Before deciding to invest, it is worth asking for a clear explanation of the business concept, how it will be passed on to the franchisee and each party’s obligations. These are questions to ask when assessing a specific offer, not a substitute for the forthcoming certification rules.

It is equally important not to assume that the certification announcement itself provides any assurance of an individual brand’s quality. The interview did not name any franchises that had completed such a process.

Legal uncertainty makes sharing know-how harder

Kukec identified a slow and inefficient legal system as one of the obstacles to the development of Croatia’s franchise community. In her view, the resulting uncertainty affects local entrepreneurs’ willingness to disclose business secrets to others.

As she explained, entrepreneurs are reluctant to expose themselves to this risk and do not know how to protect themselves. This highlights the other side of the same issue: alongside the need to protect franchise buyers, owners of business concepts need to understand how to safeguard the know-how they share with partners.

Citing the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study, she also pointed to a less favourable entrepreneurial climate and people starting businesses out of necessity rather than in response to an opportunity. She presented these factors as part of the wider environment in which Croatian franchise concepts are developing.

The certification plans therefore address several of the challenges she described: understanding the franchise model, building trust between partners and protecting business know-how. However, certification was not presented as a change in the law or as a solution to all these obstacles.

Home-grown examples show the sector’s breadth

Discussing Croatia’s potential, Kukec listed a number of home-grown concepts that have used franchising to grow for years. These include Mlinar, Body Creator, Cammeo, Narodne novine, Museum of Illusions, Galileo, Aurodomus, bio&bio and Fat Cat, a pizzeria from Koprivnica.

She singled out tourism concepts Direct Booker from Dubrovnik, Pointers from Osijek and Place2go from Zagreb as examples that contribute to the international competitiveness of Croatian franchises. The brands mentioned illustrate the diversity of the local franchise community; they are not a list of future certificate holders.

The interview’s central message remains the distinction between a concept’s potential for expansion and its readiness to operate through franchise partnerships. The existence of established Croatian examples does not remove the need to assess each new offer individually.

Practical takeaway: before buying or developing a franchise, check what underpins the agreement. Follow the association’s certification plans through its published rules and guidance, without assuming that the process has already begun or that any particular brand is already certified.