Romanian meat business aims at retail expansion
The move is related to the firm’s higher production and sales in 2016.
SuperStar Com reported 2016 sales of more than €8 million, an increase of 9.5% compared with a year earlier. In 2016, the Romanian company completed an expansion at its facility in Rădăuţi, in the country’s north-eastern region, according to senior company representatives.
“The expansion of the plant, related to its production and storage facilities for both finished products and raw materials, the diversification of the product range, and the expansion in the HoReCa [on-trade] segment were the main factors that allowed us to increase our sales,” Marcel Rusu, company owner, told local business daily Ziarul Financiar.
New jobs to be created
Rusu said the company’s designed retail outlets are expected to generate between 30 and 40 new jobs. With the planned investments, Superstar Com is to increase its total workforce to some 220 employees.
Last year, the company’s factory in Rădăuţi produced more than 1,900 tonnes of finished products. Under its latest investment, the facility’s existing surface of about 1,700 square metres (sq m) was expanded by a further 544sq m, according to data released by SuperStar Com.
In addition to this, Rusu said that, last year, the company carried out a rebranding of its stores.
Set up in 1993, SuperStar Com has been active in the country’s meat industry since 2000, when it purchased a meat processing plant with an output capacity of two tonnes per day. In 2008, under an investment worth more than €4.5m, the company launched production at a new facility, and the plant’s workforce exceeded 90 employees that year.
SuperStar Com’s portfolio consists of a wide range of products, such as processed pork, beef and poultry meat products. These include hams, sausages, pâtés, frankfurters, salami, hamburgers, and others. SuperStar Com sells its output under three main brands: SuperStar, SuperMark, and SuperChicken, which were registered in 2011, according to data from the company. SuperStar Com said its facility in Rădăuţi is ISO 22000-certified.
Positive effects of VAT cut
The Romanian meat business has been developing its retail store chain since 2008, when it opened its first outlet in Rădăuţi. Since then, SuperStar Com has launched stores in the country’s capital Bucharest, as well as Iaşi, Bacău, Vaslui, Ploieşti, Botoşani, and other municipalities. Under the plan, SuperStar Com’s next stores are to be opened in Iasi, Bacau and Suceava, according to the firm’s owner.
Last year, company representatives said the plans to expand the chain were also related to the positive effect of the Romanian government’s decision to reduce the value-added tax (VAT) on meat and processed meat products from the rate of 24% to 9%, with the aim of boosting domestic consumption.
