During these latest years Russian economy has shown a strong dynamism, both on national and local level, affecting also franchising development. Franchise in Russia has mostly developed on customer oriented segments, especially the category of foods and beverages.
The most famous fast food brands, as Sbarro, Subway, McDonald's, Pizza Hut etc., have been developing in Russia for a long time, being attracted by the enormous possibilities offered by this market.
Nowadays, most franchisors working on Russian Federation territory gather in four regions: the Central part, the North-West, the South Russia and Siberia. More than 165 franchise networks work in Russia today, with around 3.000 franchisee outlets. Clothing and underwear sectors are well developed by Italian brands. The stronger chances to grow up in franchising can be stressed on the follow categories: fast food, print and photocopies services, car repairing and maintenance, health and beauty centers, and retail.
Russian franchise can trust on the Russian franchise association (RFA), created in 1997 by the Russian franchise community; it is a no-profit organization, whose aim is to promote and develop franchising formula. As the Russian law doesn’t fix franchise terms, the system is ruled by commercial license agreements, often unable to deal about some particular aspects, as the use of the mark, the outlet design, policy of prices and advertising.

The Infofranchise group is present in Russia thanks to its ??????????? portal at the address: www.infofranchise.ru

Many events about franchise take place in Russia every year: seminars, debates, meeting and exhibitions. The most important one is the Buy Brand, which takes place in Moscow, the 2007 edition will be laid at the end of September. A meeting not to be missed by people interested in starting on their own by franchising.