I went to the show too. There wasn't a wide range on offer.
For some of the better and well known franchises requiring investment in a high street/shopping centre presence, initial franchise fee, working capital etc I keep coming up with figures of €150K-200K. I am not an accountant, but, I wonder what levels of sales and margins would be required to recoup this investment (e.g. coffee shop/O'Briens type outlet, signage company) and over what period? Is the market for some sectors saturated? I hear that big operators such as Insomnia, Starbucks, O'Briens are finding problems identifying sites and then accomodating rent reviews and employee costs with margins. Rents seem to be the major issue.
It would be interesting to hear the views of experienced franchisees.