Turabo intends to expand to Prague or Warsaw

The Turabo Cafe chain will open its first coffee shop outside Romania next summer. The company is considering expanding to the capital cities of the Czech Republic and Poland, both of which are EU members.
“We will go to Prague for the fifth time for talks regarding the opening of a coffee shop. We are also looking at Warsaw, which has a somewhat more developed market than Prague does. We will not make a final decision until the end of this year at the earliest,” stated Tudor Dragomir Niculescu, owner and general manager of the company.
Turabo coffee shops target people with a medium to high-income, with the spots eyed for expansion being located in central areas of the cities.
“The cost of opening a coffee shop in such a city is similar or even lower than opening an outlet in Bucharest. We are interested in the central areas of the city, as these areas tend to be frequented by tourists. The opening of the first coffee shop outside Romania is scheduled for the end of August,” Niculescu added.
Turabo posted turnover of about one million euros last year, which will triple this year thanks to the expansion of the coffee shop chain and entry on the event planning segment, Niculescu says.
Turabo will open its third coffee shop in partnership with Banca Comerciala Romana by the end of the year. The new outlet will be located in Piata Victoriei, Bucharest. Turabo will therefore reach a total of nine coffee shops in Romania.
Turabo will speed up expansion next year, after implementing plans to up the company’s development budget to about 2 million euros.
“We want to open seven more coffee shops in Bucharest next year, three of which will be franchised, and three more coffee shops in the rest of the country, in Mamaia and Cluj, with the third city to be chosen from Galati, Arad and Constanta,” Turabo’s manager explained.
The necessary investment to open a new coffee shop is approximately 100,000-150,000 euros, Niculescu says.