The impact is hard to gauge because predictability in the industry and defining trends are difficult at all times, even ruling out the pandemic, the official explains.
“Judging from market information, we can estimate some 25% to 30% of the operators in the industry will probably be unable to reopen. It will all depend on the social and health context and on the type and size of a potential aid from the government,” Calin Ionescu says.
Sphera Group holds the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell franchises in Romania and develops the KFC brand in the Republic of Moldova and Italy.
The food service industry is the worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with businesses closed for a number of months then allowed to reopen only partially, with certain restrictions. The revenue of the total restaurant, coffee shop and bar industry stood at almost RON19 billion in 2019, the best year for the sector and the latest for which data are available.
The first figures about the impact of the pandemic on the industry come from large actors like Sphera, a publicly listed business that published its 2020 financial statement.
The group posted RON710.8 million revenue in 2020, 25.6% lower than in 2019, due to the impact of the pandemic on the food service industry. It also posted RON2.3 million net loss compared with RON64 million profit the previous year.
“To us the closing of the restaurants was a serious shock we felt right away in terms of sales, employees, inventories, suppliers, delivery channels and we needed some time to understand what was happening and how to reach well and fast.”
The year 2021 does not seem much different from 2020, but the Romanian executive says the business is more prepared after the initial unexpected shock in March last year.
“We are expecting an upward trend in the second half amid the ongoing vaccination campaign (…).”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)