Fast food
Fast - food restaurants and delivery are widely established in Bulgaria. In the mid-90s several franchisors began to show a strong interest in Bulgaria, such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). In recent years, had joined Burger King and Subway. This section also include Fornetti, Bella Bulgaria Hranko Chicho and more focused on savory cakes and buns.
McDonald’s (www.mcdonalds.bg ) opened its first restaurant in December 1994 in Plovdiv and currently has over 24 restaurants in major cities of the country (12 in Sofia, 2 in Plovdiv, 3 in Varna and and 2 in Burgas ), the two most important beach resorts (3 in Sunny Beach and 1 in Golden Sands) and one more in the town of Pazardzhik. It is estimated that McDonald’s has invested 20 million euros since its entry into Bulgaria. In 2005, estimated its share of fast food in about 20%, although it is very likely that these calculations underestimated small local competitors. As discussed in the cafeterias section, has also expanded its line of business with McCafé (with a restaurant in the Mall of Sofia and one in Varna). Since July 2006 McDonald’s adopted the Developmental Licensee (DL), is a kind of franchise that McDonald’s has been using the last 20 years and allows the ownership and development of the brand from local hands. The new DL franchisees are Lissikov Ivan (former employee of McDonald’s Bulgaria), Svetozar Janevski and Zoran Matlievski (DL franchisees of McDonald’s Macedonia).
Kentucky Fried Chicken (www.kfc.bg ) Samex in 1994, a local franchiser, opened the first KFC restaurant in Bulgaria. Samex so far has opened 8 stores in the country (including 6 in Sofia, one in Varna and one in Sunny beach). The second franchisor of KFC is AmRest (American Restaurants EOOD), a subsidiary of AmRest Poland (www.amrest.pl) and controlled by American Retail Concepts and Yum! Restaurants, which in 2007 received rights (non exclusive) to operate the brands Pizza Hut and KFC. Also be responsible for developing the chain Burger King. In November 2007 KFC opened its first restaurant in Sofia, in line with the company plans to develop first KFC in the Bulgarian market.
Pizza Hut (www.pizzahut.bg ) entered Bulgaria in 1995 with the help of Excel Associates with one pizzeria in Sofia. Currently have three restaurants, all in the capital. Pizza Hut franchise also is managed by AmRest because Excel did not have exclusive rights, but in September 2008 GMJ Restaurants International replaced the latter announcing new expansion plans.
Burger King, the main rival of McDonald’s, has reached the Bulgarian market 14 years later than this. AmRest has the rights to this franchise in Bulgaria and currently operates two restaurants in this franchise.
Subway (www.subway.com ) has two locations in Bulgaria, one in Varna and one Sofia.
Close to the concept of fast food, we can find some chains of baked products that are experiencing strong growth in the country, as Fornetti, Chicho Hranko or Lakis.
Fornetti (www.fornetti.com ), the Hungarian producer of biscuits and mini puff, began in the Bulgarian market in late 2007, around the same time as the Bulgarian equivalent: Lakis (Bella). Both chains use the franchise system. Fornetti stores (take away) have virtually flooded the country: there are now about 260 points of sale throughout Bulgaria. It seems to occupy a place in the preferences of the Bulgarians, very used to similar products made of baked bread and cheese (banitsa, byurek or kashkavalka, for example). Fornetti manufactures its products in Hungary and then distributes them. The short-term plans are to open a factory in Bulgaria, probably by the end of 2008.
Bulgarian franchises:
Happy Bar & Grill (www.happy.bg ) is the largest Bulgarian restaurant chain and has recorded faster growth. It started as a family business in Varna, where Orlin Popov opened the first restaurant in 1994. Happy is also an unusual case among Bulgarian franchises and opened a restaurant in Barcelona in 2004 (http://happy.es/). The cuisine is a blend of Bulgarian-Balkan and West. It occupies a niche between the typical fast food restaurants and higher quality. Often the restaurants open 24 hours and now the chain has about 20 restaurants across the country. Another fact is that Happy replaced McDonald’s in the Shell gas stations that are in the two main highways of Bulgaria. Also the company has plans to extend Romania, Russia and Serbia.
Lakis is a chain of fast food and snacks with some 40 restaurants (with plans to reach 120 by year-end) in June 2008 reached an agreement with Bella Bulgaria (www.bella.bg ), the latter was founded in 1992 and has grown rapidly in the food sector Bulgarian. Bella has about 3,500 employees and their production is conducted in 5 centers throughout the country. Among its products are sausages, pastry products and vegetable oils. With Lakis, Bella access a new market niche and get a new sales channel for its products. In addition, the company has invested 1.5 million euros in new equipment to meet the needs of the chain. The target is to have the 80% of take away restaurants, and the other ones have a room for you to consume the products on the premises. Franchisees will have the option to sell different products form Bella, but only if there are not direct competitors, such as ice cream or coffee. The competitive advantage lies in the quality of their products in relation with competitors and to be more focus in the Bulgarian tastes preferences, although it intended to move away from the concept of traditional stores banitsa.
Another Bulgarian chain that has interest with franchise development plans is Chicho Hranko (www.chichohranko.com ) owned by Vitta Foods (www.vittafoods.bg ), who wants to increase the number from 100 to 300 stores under the franchise model. The company has invested more than 5 million euros from December 2007 to expand its chain.
