The fast-food giant that battles McDonald’s, KFC and Subway would therefore be at its second attempt on the Romanian market, after Atlantic Restaurant System, the operator of the Burger King franchise went insolvent and closed the network two years ago.
Market sources say the group is looking at the local market again and contemplating a joint venture with a local or foreign partner. Burger King officials did not provide any comment on their plans for Romania by press time.
“A first restaurant might open in the first half of 2015 at the earliest. The company is now only analyzing the market,” a market source said.
Burger King is the only one of the fast-food big four that does not have a Romanian presence. McDonald’s and KFC have a history of about two decades on this market, while Subway arrived in 2012, but has aggressively expanded to 20 restaurants ever since.
Burger King initially arrived in 2008, the last economic boom year, introduced by businessmen Eli Davidai and Marius Nasta. Four years later, the local network went insolvent as petitioned by Liberty Center mall, which its creditors Alpha Bank, Bancpost and Bank of Cyprus foreclosed on in 2012.
Burger King opened five restaurants in its first year in Romania and announced plans for ten more. The economic crisis and the worse than expected results forced it to shelve its plans, so at its peak the network was running with nine restaurants. Back then, its revenue stood at no more than EUR3 million a year and losses accounted for half of that.
Atlantic Restaurant System may have gone insolvent and closed its restaurants in Romania, but one Burger King still remained in business at the Otopeni Airport. This particular restaurant, however, is managed by Alpha Rocas, which operates a number of airport stores, coffee shops and restaurants. Airport-based Burger Kings have a different management than the other restaurants of the brand, according to market information.
Burger King chose to expand via franchisees throughout the world and the only restaurants it operates itself (52 out of more than 13,500) are located in the US and Canada.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)