The Calif-Condimental chain numbers seven restaurants under the two brands today, all of which in Bucharest. The officials of the company say there will be at least 16 by yearend, which means the network will double.
“We will expand in Bucharest and in the nearby towns. We want to open 11 new restaurants by yearend, but that depends on space availability. We will at least double the network, though,” says Sachin Arora, who runs the local operations of Peeraj and is also one of the owners of the group.
Calif-Condimental restaurant group was founded in 2010 by three local entrepreneurs – Radu Tanase (lawyer), Bogdan Jantea (architect) and Alexandru Stoichitoiu. Arab-held Peeraj group has recently acquired 75% in it.
The fast pace of openings is because the Peeraj group has the funds to finance the business, after having returned the CCC footwear retail franchise to its parent company for EUR33 million. This was the largest deal on the local fashion market and involved more than 50 footwear stores. Peeraj will invest the money in several businesses, such as fashion retail and fast-food restaurants.
If the new Calif restaurants do open as announced, its revenue could increase by 50%.
“We ended last year with EUR3 million revenue and if everything goes well in 2018, we will get EUR4.5 million,” Radu Tanase says.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)