In its nine years on the Romanian market, McDonald's has sold approximately 15 million Big Macs and some 70 million helpings of fries of various sizes, according to communication manager Cristian Savu.
Though Romanians were as familiar as they could be with fries even before McDonald's entered the market, they knew less about the Big Mac, which has come to symbolise the American company.
Statistics show that Romanians can hardly be described as being curious to try it either, considering that, with a population of around 22 million, each person in the country ate about half a Big Mac.
McDonald's entered the market in 1995, when no other fast food chain was operational.
Although the company has been growing year by year, the profit has been rather reluctant to show itself.
McDonald's officials were recently saying that they had noticed visible signs of an increase in purchasing power, which had started to have an effect upon sales.
The sales of McDonald's Romania rose 17%-18% in Q1 this year. The company plans to see sales reach $42 million in 2004, with the growth target set at 10%.
Its officials believe the long awaited profit is closer than ever this year.
McDonald's has 48 restaurants opened across 20 cities in Romania and plans to open two more this year.
Just as everywhere else in the world, McDonald's introduced changes in Romania that were intended to show it is a company concerned with its customers' health.
Early this year it launched menus that include diet products on the domestic market, following partnerships with other multinationals such as Danone and Nestle. It has served more than 250 million customers since its launch.
It also plans to start using the franchising system and expand it in the future.
McDonald's Romania currently employs 2,500 people and has invested more than $60 million since entering this market.
Compared with other countries, especially those in Western Europe and North America, McDonald's has maintained a good name in Romania.
However, it has not succeeded in making particularly strong developments on the fast food segment, as competition is less than fierce even today.
Its main competitors are Pizza Hut, Spring Time, Gregory's and Snack Attack, which operates the Sandwich Factory brand.
claudia.covaci@zf.ro
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