Polish franchise market is supported by institutions and professional media. In 2000 the Polish Franchise Organization was established, after a year Franchising.pl portal was launched. In 2003 PROFIT system issued the Wlasny Biznes Franchising monthly and organized the Polish Franchise Expo for the first time.

Report on franchising in Poland

In 2009 Poland was the only European country that consistently posted growth during the global economic downturn. According the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Poland's economic growth will likely accelerate to 3.1% in 2010 and to 3.9% to 2011 from last year's 1.8%, mainly driven by infrastructure investments, linked to transfers of EU funds and the 2012 football championship, and private consumption.

Over 640 franchisers

Polish franchise market grows simultaneously to the economy, and Poles willingly invest in franchise business. PROFIT system forecasts more than app. 640 franchisers operating on the market by January 1, 2011. It will be a growth by 75 new franchise systems. The last calculation made on January 1, 2010, revealed 565 franchise systems operating in Poland. There were about 410 Polish brands and near 155 foreign ones.

Chart 1: Number of franchise systems in Poland

We can observe another successful year for Polish franchise market - says Michal Wisniewski franchise consultancy director in PROFIT system – it seems to be a good moment to develop franchise in Poland - economic conditions are still better that in other countries of EU, on the other side Polish people trusted in franchise as a proven way of doing business.

Broken record – 5.5 thousand new franchise outlets

Polish franchise market is on constant grow. In 2009 grew by 5.5 thousand new franchise units - which was the biggest growth in Polish franchise history. At the beginning of 2010 there were app. 32 thousand franchise outlets in Poland. Experts of PROFIT system forecasts that the number of franchise units in 2010 will increase by another 5 thousand, and will reach 37 thousand.

Chart 2: Number of franchise outlets in Poland

Polish franchise market is growing mostly in retail sector and secondary in services. In 2008 Poles willingly invested in grocery stores (growth by app. 3,000 units). In services sector (gastronomy, hairdressing, education, laundries, etc.) the number of franchise outlets grew by more than 660 units. Numbers of first half-year of 2010 tend to confirm this positive trend.

Year by year more people want to start their own businesses
 Many of them choose franchise which gives them certainty that the business has been proven.