BusinessMagazin

Tag: Eliodor Apostolescu

  • Gusto: Cand consumul scade, cresc vanzarile de pufuleti

    Rezultatele sunt in crestere cu 6,5 % fata de aceeasi perioada a
    anului 2009. Totodata, raportat la aceeasi perioada a anului,
    volumul vanzarilor de pufuleti a fost in crestere cu aproximativ
    doua procente. Cu toate acestea, spre finalul anului trecut,
    reprezentantii companiei se asteptau la o crestere a vanzarilor de
    30 de procente in 2010 fata de rezultatele anului anterior.

    Evolutia pozitiva din primele cinci luni ale anului “este cu
    atat mai valoroasa cu cat contextul economic nu este favorabil
    cresterilor”, a declarat Eliodor Apostolescu, unul dintre cei doi
    asociati ai companiei Phoenix Y. Cifra de afaceri a producatorului
    de pufuleti a crescut anul trecut cu aproape 10% fata de 2008,
    ajungand la aproape 19 milioane de euro.

    “Anul acesta, pentru a ne adapta contextului economic si
    schimbarilor survenite la nivelul intregii piete de FMCG, precum si
    in comportamentul consumatorilor, am luat deja o serie de masuri
    cum ar fi investitiile in liniile de productie, largirea gamei de
    produse, dezvoltarea retelei de distributie si extinderea pietelor
    de comercializare, atat la nivel national cat si international”, a
    adaugat Apostolescu.

    Producatorul Gusto si-a inceput activitatea in urma cu 18 ani,
    cu o mica linie de productie amplasata in casa unuia dintre
    asociati. In prezent, fabrica din Baicoi are o capacitate de
    productie de peste un milion de pungi pe zi, una dintre cele mai
    mari la nivel european. Compania are in portofoliu 15 produse, iar
    pufuletii Gusto sunt exportati in 10 tari, printre care Germania,
    Anglia, Italia, Olanda, Irlanda, Grecia.

  • Cheese puffs go well with crisis

    The two have known each other for over 31 years, and have managed to turn an apparently modest industry – production of cheese puffs, into a several million-euro business. Their company is the second largest producer in Romania, and the largest local supplier. With no very visible presence, the business grew over a period of more than 10 years, and owners still feel they have reason to be optimistic, even in a time of crisis, or maybe thanks to the crisis, if economic difficulties prompt consumers to turn to cheaper products. ”Cheese puffs could see significant sales in the next two years, which are expected to be under the shadow of the crisis,” believes Adrian Iordache.

    After several years of operating an ice cream business in their native city of Ploiesti, which started with the secondhand purchase of an ice cream cart, in 1996, they had a plant that produced 40 tonnes of ice cream a day. It was then that the two business partners decided to move on to a new product category – cheese puffs, because they wanted a product that, unlike ice cream, would not be seasonal. They bought an old cheese puff maker from an old bakery in Cluj and got down to work. Initially, the cheese puff plant functioned in the old location, in the centre of Ploiesti, but soon its production capacity, of 200,000 bags of puffs a day, proved to be insufficient, not to mention the fact that it was rather inefficient to have a plant in the middle of a city. The two then decided to relocate production from the city centre to the outskirts of Ploiesti. For a while, the two plants, the one in Ploiesti and the one in Baicoi, functioned in parallel, but as of 2006, only the second one has remained functional.

    Currently, the Baicoi plant employs 300 people, with the plant’s production capacity amounting to 1 million bags of puffs a day, according to the two partners. Although they set up the company 16 years ago, the idea of producing Gusto puffs has brought them more visibility, especially lately, when sales exceeded their expectations. ”When we started making puffs, we were using a rudimentary technology, like everyone else. We would put the puffs on the table, sprinkle them with oil and salt, and then package them. Now everything is computerised,” says Apostolescu.