Some fast, some feast

The companies in the foodstuffs industry have cut the long fast weeks short with tempting offers, which taught consumers they could eat something other than beans and potatoes. The results were quick to show in sales figures, as well.
In the end, this benefited not only the consumers, but also the retail stores, which registered high sales during the period before Easter.
The XXL Mega Discount! network saw sales for fast foodstuffs increase two or three times during this interval compared with the previous period.
“Most of these foods are deliberately placed either at the end of the shelves or on “the island” specially prepared for the Easter season. Until now, we did not have such products on the list for the entire year, but we are thinking of selling them to the XXL clients that eat vegetarian foods all through the year,” said Reiner Exel, manager of the Rewe Romania Company, which holds the discounter-type retail network XXL Mega Discount!.
Besides the traditional products for fasting periods, the stores also sell soy-based sausages, vegetal pate or various types of soy, which can be cooked at home.
The Mega Image representatives in their turn said the sales of products for fasting periods had doubled, with the soy wursts as this year’s best sellers.
The fast foodstuffs have started to work their way not only in kitchens or supermarket shelves but also in companies or at various social events and cocktail parties.
Anca Mitu, the manager of the Privileg Catering Company says that ten percent of the total orders during this period were for fast foodstuffs.
Mitu explains that the sales of the company she runs have gone up approximately 20% during this period. She did not care to specify how much they were worth, though.
“They sell very well, because they are cheaper in terms of raw material and take less time to cook, because are not as complicated to handle.”
Carmen Friptu, marketing manager of Ana Pan, part of the Ana Group, held by businessman George Copos, believes the upward trend registered by the market is also due to the more active involvement of the young people in religious matters. As far as her company is concerned, Friptu says sales were about the same as before, though.
“We have a number of customers, who eat other kinds of products during times of fast, so that sales stay at about the same level.”