Cafeterias
Coffe Shops are currently a very dynamic sector in which important brands are present. The coffee is the most popular hot drink in Bulgaria and it represents an important social ritual in the country, although the market is fairly fragmented. The first foreign channels were Coffeeheaven (2006) and Costa Coffee (2007), if we do not consider Dunkin Donuts, one of the first franchises in the country, owned by the greek company Samex (which also is reprenting of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut, but not exclusively). Samex is more focused on the bakery than the concept of the cafeteria.
Starbucks (www.starbucks.com) opened its first cafeteria in November 2008. It is considered by many as the paradigm of modern cafeteria focused on the customer experience, but we should point out that Starbucks is not a franchise; we decided to include it in our information because Starbucks has a great importance in the sector.
Greek Marinopoulos Group (www.marinopoulos.gr) owns the license to operate in Bulgaria, as well as they own the exclusive franchise rights for Gap and Banana Republic (both of clothes) in Bulgaria and other countries in the region as (Romania, Greece Cyprus and Croatia). Marinopoulos also has exclusive rights to franchise Marks & Spencer in several countries in the region (Romania, Greece, Cyprus or Croatia), and has signed a joint venture agreement with major regional retailers such as Carrefour, Sephora (part of LVMH), Fnac and Grand Optical.
At the moment, the major international chains present in Bulgaria are:
Coffeeheaven (www.coffeeheaven.eu) was the first international chain to operate in the Bulgarian market in 2006, with an outlet in Mall of Sofia and other at City Center. Its headquarters are located in Poland and has 89 outlets in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia, Bulgaria, and Romania), the management are english and the company is listed in London Stock Exchange. Currently, there are 4 stores in Bulgaria, all in Sofia.
Coffee Republic (http://coffeerepublic.bg/), this franchise with English origin was the second international chain in the Bulgarian market, just weeks before the Costa Coffee made its appearance. Coffee Republic Bulgaria was founded in 2007 by Mark Christie and Andrew Kelland, the owners of the franchise in Bulgaria, and currently has 3 stores in the Black Sea coast, 2 in Varna and one in Sunny Beach. The next cities in which they planned to open their cafeterias are Stara Zagora, Plovdiv and Sofia.
Costa Coffee (www.costa.co.uk) is a franchise chain of British origin with more than 600 establishments in this country, Whitbread Plc. (www.whitbread.co.uk), which opened its first coffee shop in Bulgaria in January 2007 and where they currently has 7 establishments. They planned to invest 1.5 million euros in 2008 to open 10 new outlets, at least 6 of them in Sofia, one more shopping malls in Plovdiv and Stara Zagora and the other in Varna. The latter will be introduced for the first time in Bulgaria with the combination of coffee shop bookstore. Future plans for expansion are open 50 stores in the next 5 years. Some sources indicate interest in acquiring Coffeeheaven Costa Coffee, which greatly enhanced its position in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe. The local franchisee is Coffee Life Limited, led by Angel Balabanov.
The new global competitor to Starbucks, McCafe (owned by the fast food chain McDonald’s (www.mcdonalds.bg), is already present in the country with two establishments, one in Sofia and the other in Varna, both in malls.
We may not forget Flocafe (www.flocafe.gr), a chain of Greek origin (is non-franchised), which opened its first establishment in downtown Sofia in May 2008 and has plans to open another later this year. Vivartia belongs to the group, also owner of the maker Chipita croissants and the dairy MKO.
There are also chains of coffee shops of Bulgarian origin:
Onda was the first chain in this segment in Bulgaria. It opened his first establishment in 2003, and for over 3 years was virtually the sole representative of this sub-sector. In September 2005, the Greek investment fund Global Investment acquired a stake of 2 million leva (1.02 million euros) in the chain. Onda has 10 stores in Sofia.
Coffee House chain is the least known of those already discussed. It is owned by CH Invest and is based in Sofia.
©All images are property of their respective owners.
