A
Mexican franchise is an
apparent franchise, that's to say, a bunch of different shops that through imitation, fear of the new and herd instinct look exactly the same, and in many cases even share the same name.
One example is "La Michoacana". In Mexico City there is a gazillion La Michoacana ice cream shops, but do you think that there is a Michoacana Corporation ? Nope, it is just that a lot of people thought that that was a cool name. The really bizarre thing is that at time they even use a very similar logo, a stylized girl holding an ice cream cone.
Another one is the torta stands. They all look exactly the same, serve the same things and have very similar prices. But they have different owners, and there is no Organización Mexicana de los Puestos de Tortas. In fact many of them are illegal.