“This is a plan for 2012-2017. We will grow vegetables for zakuska (cooked vegetable spread) and pickles and the eggplants we use in our restaurants. We will later get certification and start growing organic vegetables,” says the 41-year old entrepreneur.
To secure organic farming certification, the land needs to go through a process of reconversion that lasts a number of years. Reconversion entails cleaning the land of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
Petrescu says he owns five plots of land in Mihailesti, Giurgiu County, which he wants to combine into a seven-hectare farm.
“I don’t want to become a farmer, I just want better control over the products we use in our restaurants.”
Petrescu owns the City Grill restaurant chain, the City Café network, restaurant Buongiorno, beerhouse Hanu Berarilor, Cantina Sport Bar, shawarma rotisserie Bundetot and bakery BackWerk, and manages the Caru cu Bere restaurant, which generated EUR16 million revenue in 2010.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)