Franchising in Italy: access to finance holds back new openings

Italy’s franchising sector is growing, but access to capital remains the main obstacle to opening new outlets. According to figures from the 2026 Assofranchising Report, reported by Corriere della Sera on 16 September, 80% of franchisors identify access to finance as their most significant challenge. This finding sits alongside, rather than detracts from, positive results in turnover and employment.

Growth does not remove the capital hurdle

The national picture shows an economically significant sector: franchising turnover in Italy has reached €39 billion, up 8% on the previous year. Employment stands at around 327,000, an increase of 12%, according to the summary published by Corriere della Sera.

These results need to be considered alongside the difficulties reported by franchise networks. Growth in business activity and employment does not mean that the path to opening a new outlet is free of obstacles. In the survey, the availability of capital emerges as the issue most frequently cited by franchisors.

The central finding is therefore that two trends coexist: a sector whose overall performance is improving, and networks that continue to struggle to finance expansion. These figures are not contradictory, as they describe different aspects of the market: its economic scale on the one hand, and the challenges involved in opening new outlets on the other.

Finance ranks ahead of staff and new franchisees

The ranking of challenges gives a clear picture of franchisors’ priorities. Access to capital is cited by 80%, followed by finding staff at 67% and recruiting new franchisees at 60%.

Access to finance therefore ranks 13 percentage points above staffing and 20 points above franchisee recruitment. The gap highlights the importance of financial concerns in the responses, while also showing that the other two challenges remain substantial.

It is important not to read more into these percentages than the reported findings support. The 80% figure refers to franchisors who identify access to capital as a challenge: it is not the proportion of finance applications rejected, nor the percentage of planned openings cancelled. The available summary does not quantify either of these outcomes.

Likewise, the reported figures do not establish which forms of finance are hardest to obtain, or which types of prospective franchisee face the greatest obstacles. The documented finding concerns the central role of capital in network expansion, not an analysis of individual lending decisions.

Lombardy illustrates the economic scale at stake

Further context comes from regional figures in the same 2026 Assofranchising Italia Report, produced by Patrigest together with TEHA Group and covered by Il Giorno on 15 September.

In 2025, the franchising sector in Lombardy generated €12.6 billion, equivalent to 32.3% of the national total. The region has 197 active franchise brands and 23,219 outlets, compared with 62,449 outlets across Italy as a whole.

Employment also highlights the region’s importance: it accounts for 128,683 jobs, or around 39% of the national total of 327,200 given in the report’s detailed figures. That national figure is consistent with the approximately 327,000 reported in the Corriere della Sera summary.

These numbers help illustrate the sector’s economic scale, but they do not measure any specific difficulty in accessing finance in Lombardy. In the available information, the ranking of obstacles refers to Italy as a whole: it would therefore be incorrect to apply the 80% figure automatically to franchise networks in Lombardy alone.

What to assess before opening a new outlet

For anyone considering becoming a franchisee, the findings suggest a practical priority: assess financial viability alongside the brand, rather than leaving it until the final stages of the project.

It is worth asking the network for a detailed breakdown of the expected investment, separating start-up costs from the funds needed to cover the initial period of trading. Discussions with a lender should be based on explicit assumptions about revenue, costs and timescales, not simply on the national sector’s aggregate results.

Staffing and the availability of prospective franchisees also deserve attention, as they are among the most frequently reported challenges. For a network, prudent planning should therefore assess financial and organisational resources together, without assuming that solving one problem automatically makes an opening viable.

Practical takeaway: before making commitments for a new outlet, check the total funding requirement, the capital available and the terms of any proposed finance. Growth in franchising provides context, not a guarantee for an individual project.