With Dr. Oetker and Aldis among its clients, the company posted EUR24 million in revenue last year, while the net profit reached EUR1.7 million.
“I set up Supremia Grup together with my wife, Mihaela, at the end of 2000, when we made the first import of food ingredients and in January 2001 we issued the first invoice of the company,” recalls Bara Levente, who was 25 at the time and had trained as a food industry engineer.
Supremia Grup, which includes another production facility in Santimbru, Alba county, makes and sells food ingredients including food ingredient mixes, natural spices, natural and artificial membranes, and various food industry accessories. It works with over 1,300 clients from Romania and Europe, such as Sano Vita, Heidi, Aldis, Albalact, Dr. Oetker and Pambac.
The business had a difficult start because of the lack of capital, of the necessary means to conduct the operations and because of the huge risks taken, the entrepreneur says.
“As with any startup one doesn’t get support from anyone, either banks or public institutions. The first clients were the only ones that put their trust in us, for which reason we were able to develop the business step by step.”
The initial investment in the business went to buying a stock of merchandise, worth about 40,000 Deutsche marks (some EUR20,500), which Bara Levente gradually sold to the first customers and after getting paid reinvested the capital.
He says that although the amount may seem small, given the market of 2001 and the fact that he was 25, “I believe it was an act of courage. I relied on my professional skills and on a being good at selling things.”
The company saw its sales reach EUR4.3 million at the end of 2005 and in December that year completed the investment in the food ingredient plant in Santimbru (about ten kilometers away from the Alba Iulia). The investment stood at some EUR600,000 and resulted in an office for the company and the food ingredient production facility.
That year the entrepreneur set out to turn his company into the leader of the food ingredient market in Romania.
Ten years after having issued its first invoice, Supremia inaugurated another plant in Alba Iulia, following a EUR9.1 million investment, financed by Raiffeisen Bank. The company is currently employing 203 people.
“The financial crisis was good, from our point of view. We gained significant market share against our competitors,” Bara Levente says, adding that the company sales put it on the top position among suppliers of food ingredients in Romania.
The food ingredient market stood at EUR100 million according to a survey in 2008. There are no official data as to last year’s value.
Bara Levente says he hopes to see the economy rebound so that demand for premium products would increase, too, as such products require more expensive ingredients.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)