concessionaire n.

mid-15c., "act of granting or yielding" (especially in argumentation), from Old French concession (14c.) or directly from Latin concessionem (nominative concessio) "an allowing, conceding," noun of action from past-participle stem of concedere "to give way, yield," figuratively "agree, consent, give precedence," from con-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see con-), + cedere "to go, grant, give way" (from PIE root *ked- "to go, yield").

From 1610s as "the thing or point yielded." Meaning "property granted by government" is from 1650s. Sense of "grant of privilege by a government to individuals to engage in some enterprise" is from 1856, from a sense in French. Hence the meaning "grant or lease of a small part of a property for some specified purpose" (1897), the sense in concession stand "snack bar, refreshment stand."