McDonald's logs 15% higher turnover

US fast-food restaurant chain McDonald’s logged sales worth almost 50 million dollars (about 40 million euros) in Romania this year, 15% higher year-on-year.

McDonald’s officials say 2004 has been the company’s best year in Romania so far.

“This year, purchasing power surged, which has been especially felt on the restaurants market,” said Cristian Savu, communications manager with McDonald’s Romania.

McDonald’s has 49 restaurants in Romania and about 2,000 employees. This year, the company opened a restaurant in the Carrefour hypermarket based in Brasov, while another two restaurants were opened last year inside two Bucharest-based hypermarkets, Carrefour and Cora.

Hypermarkets are in fact one of the main targets for McDonald’s.

“In principle, in 2005 we will keep up the usual pace of 2-3 new restaurants opened per year. We will particularly focus on the new malls and hypermarkets to be opened in Romania,” Savu also said.

Investments in a McDonald’s restaurant range between 900,000 euros and 1.6 million euros, depending on location and surface.

In 2003, McDonald’s Romania had derived turnover revolving around 40 million dollars, 10% higher year-on-year.

Although the company had announced that it planned to launch expansion in a franchise system, for 2005 it will, though, maintain the current system where restaurants are McDonald’s own investments.

For next year the company counts on growth of about 10% in sales, which would translate into turnover worth some 55 million dollars in 2005.