DUE TO THE OPENING OF NEW LOCATIONS, KFC Romania expects its turnover to remain constant

Cosmina Capalău

As the financial crisis leaves its mark on numerous companies in all the sectors of the economy, KFC Romania expects its turnover to remain constant by the end of 2009, due to the fact that the company continued to open new locations, in spite of the current economic environment.

Carmen Lupuleţ, Marketing Manager of the company"s Romanian division, said that market share and turnover will not vary significantly in 2009 compared to last year. "Market share won"t change significantly, there will be slight monthly fluctuations, but there won"t be any major changes overall. Turnover will also be the same by the end of the year, due to the opening of new locations", Mrs. Lupuleţ said.

As to the evolution of the fast-food segment this year, compared to the previous years, the official of KFC Romania said that "in this period, we will only see major changes in the form of players that fail to weather the crisis. I do not think there will see new any new brands entering the market or being created, the timing is not right for anything of the kind. Later, when everything is history, we will most likely see a boom, as we normally would. And in terms of general market share, this sector will depend on the financial evolution", she added.

• KFC has realistic plans

Concerning the current overall state of the market, which was affected by the financial crisis, Mrs. Lupule said that KFC has drawn up some realistic plans, which means that the company "has not been seriously influenced by the crisis". What"s more, "we will continue our planned development and we will focus on the same values", she said. In this respect, KFC Romania"s marketing manager feels that customer respect is the "winning" attitude in the face of the economic crisis.

After the evolution in the first semester, the company"s official said that KFC "only has realistic scenarios" for the coming period, meaning "none of the gloomy forecasts will happen", on the contrary, "the company will be safe from disasters".

Carmen Lupuleţ feels that the sector KFC operates in does not have many particularities. "The hardships and challenges are the same as in any other segment, as the local market is still in a process of development, and stabilization. There are still many players that enter the market, and many that disappear. Only a few companies remain stable and seem solid enough to remain so in the future", Mrs. Lupuleţ says.

Concerning its expansion process for this year, KFC Romania opened a new location in the Northern Railway Station (Gara de Nord) in Bucharest and the first "drive-thru" in Sibiu. The KFC official said that several units will be opened, both in Bucharest, as well as in other major cities.