La Mama invests 1m euros in 6 restaurants

The La Mama restaurant chain will expand by another 6 restaurants in Bucharest, with the total investment estimated to approximately 1 million euros. “The expansion plans of our company entail the opening of two more La Mama restaurants by the end of this year, with the necessary investment for a medium surface area restaurant that can accommodate 80 people reaching approximately 150,000 euros, considering the space used is rented,” stated Catalin Mahu, general manager of the chain and one of its founders. The company will also inaugurate a warehouse and an internal production facility soon, completing an about 200,000 euro investment. “The investment was necessary in order to make the distribution and supplying throughout the chain in Bucharest efficient given the prospects for an increase in the number of restaurants,” Mahu added. The restaurant operator’s turnover stood at approximately 3.1 million euros (125bn ROL) last year, up 30% from the previous year. The company’s sales growth was due to the inauguration of the fourth restaurant in September 2003.  Estimates for this year point to an increase in sales by more than 50% due to expansion, as well as to the improved purchasing power of the consumers. With about 3 million inhabitants, including the daily traffic, Bucharest has a little more than 1,000 restaurants, while touristic cities, like Paris for instance, have nearly 30,000 restaurants and cafes at a population of about 10 million inhabitants.  ZF