Hesburger is a family business from Finland, which, besides its home market, operates in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, Hungary and Bulgaria and has 470 restaurants in all, according to its LinkedIn profile.
The brand enters the Romanian market at a time of high inflation and dwindling purchasing power. In such times, Romanian consumers are more careful with their spending. Previous crises have shown that in such times people stop going to a la carte restaurants and go to fast food restaurants instead and then switch to pastry and pretzel shops. Still, data from major actors like McDonald’s and KFC show 2023 was a good year for quick service restaurants in Romania.
Hesburger, launched more than 50 years ago, enters Romania with a restaurant in Shopping City Ramnicu Valcea. The restaurant takes up 80 square meters and required a EUR300,000 investment.
It decided to enter Romania following a thorough review of the market and believes in the development potential in this country, Ieva Salmela, Hesburger international development and marketing director.
The chain is in talks for new locations in various cities of Romania, including Bucharest and plans to open 10 restaurants in the country in its first year in business, following EUR8 million investments, the official added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)