McDonald's Romania, the biggest fast-food chain, in the first quarter generated 88m-RON turnover, up 10% from a year ago, in the context where the company added a further 4 restaurants.
However, RON decline ate into McDonald's euro revenues, which fell from 22m euros in the first three months of 2008 to 21m euros this year.
"It's a satisfactory performance, given the current situation. This year, we'll continue to expand the restaurant network nationwide and we'll further invest to modernise existing spaces," stated Cristian Savu, communication manager of McDonald's Romania.
On Wednesday, the company opened in Drumul Taberei of Bucharest the biggest drive-in restaurant of Romania, in the wake of investments put at over 4m euros.
"It's normal for us to earmark such a large budget, considering the respective area is viewed as a city, with a larger population than many cities in Romania. An equally important reason we chose this location for is the fact that the area is weakly represented. We had no restaurant there, but our rivals haven't arrived there, either," says Savu.
The latest restaurant, the 59th of the domestic network, is structured along two floors and has 330 seats and a play area for events organised for children.
The plot of land for this restaurant was bought from Billa Romania, with the restaurant being located in the patio of one of the network's supermarkets. Collaboration with the supermarket network is older, with the same type of deal having been sealed for the land plot where McDonald's Floreasca was built.
Yesterday, McDonald's was due to open another restaurant in Sibiu, and is also due to enter Piatra-Neamt with the 61st restaurant in mid-May. "The two restaurants will be in street-front locations, too, will have a larger area on the ground floor, but no other storeys, with investments in the opening of each of them to top 2.5m euros," explains Savu.
Around 200 persons were hired for the three restaurants, with recruiting to depend on the evolution of sales.
On the fast-food market, which the company puts at 1.5-2bn euros, KFC is the main rival of McDonald's. Burger King also entered this market last year, but the network has not exceeded ten restaurants in Romania for the time being.
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