The Saxon salami commercial is now history, but consumers are sure to remember it, as well as the name of the producer, Cris Tim, for a long time. The company plans to make the most of the publicity, of the distribution system and also of the revenues it derived from meat products. Subsequently, Cris Tim will enter the dairy products market this year, following a two million euro investment in Boldesti-Scaieni, Prahova County.
As soon as it put together a distribution system and its own stores, Cris Tim decided to use this edge for other products, instead of settling for meat and charcuterie only. This is why it bought a 600 hectare farm in Boldesti-Scaieni, where it plans to grow cereals for the livestock and build a swine farm, as well.
"Since we had the farm and a fully functional distribution system, we decided to enter this market, too," Radu Timis said. He added that Cris Tim's dairy products would be "enough to cover the needs of the Cris Tim stores" at first, without going into details about the production.
Cris Tim now has 15 stores, seven of which opened last year. Nine of the fifteen units are located in Bucharest.
The new products will become available in the next few months, as the representatives of the company are now looking to buy 400 Holstein cows from Denmark, Timis says. The Cris Tim manager specified the productive technology would be Dutch and Danish-made.
"The milk will be Romanian, not Saxon, though," Radu Timis cared to specify. He added Cris Tim's milk would be ecological, meaning that the fodder would not contain pesticides.
Cris Tim's turnover doubled in 2002, reaching $58 million from the previous $29 million, Timis said.
"Our success is because we expanded a great deal and because we are good, dynamic and love competition," the Cris Tim manager says.
The company posted $29 million turnover in 2001, 70% higher than in 2000, while profit amounted to $1.2 million.
Cris Tim began building a raw and dry salami factory in Filipestii de Padure, an investment estimated at four million euros, two million euros of which were secured through the SAPARD programme financing. Timis also says that the company last year borrowed more than three million euros from banks.
Cris Tim advertised the Saxon salami on TV in December last year, but since the commercial focused on the product instead of the producer, it benefited other producers of Saxon salami (generic term), as well.
Cris Tim was established in 1992, when Radu Timis and his wife Cristina opened a stand in the Militari neighbourhood, where they were selling soft drinks. The group now comprises four companies and is one of the leading charcuterie producers in Romania.
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