Sbarro will arrive in Romania as a franchise operated by the shareholders of the Bulgarian Happy restaurant group. ZF reported this spring that the group would enter Romania with its main brand, Happy. A Happy restaurant is to open in AFI Cotroceni mall. The group has now added Sbarro to its portfolio, ZF has found, which will open its first restaurant in Bucuresti Mall this fall.
This is the second attempt of Sbarro to enter the Romanian market. Back in 2006, the Ruby Food group, operator of the Ruby Tuesday restaurants, announced the arrival of Sbarro in Bucharest in about one year, when it was supposed to open seven restaurants. The onset of the crisis offset the group’s plans.
Sbarro’s decision to try again comes at a time when Romania’s economy is seeing the highest growth in the EU and consumer spending is booming, as Romanians are more and more willing to go out and spend.
The Romanian restaurant market stands at 8 billion lei (EUR1.7 billion), RON2 billion of which contributed by quick-service restaurants.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)