Burger King: Competition with shawarma places is on the rise
The Romanian crisis modified the consumer behaviour of
Romanians, who migrated from traditional restaurants to fast food
restaurants, and then to shawarma places.
"Theories say customers migrate from expensive restaurants to cheap
ones or from luxury to fast-food. We have customers who have turned
to quick service from traditional restaurants. Their number is,
however, not high enough to compensate for customers who no longer
have a budget for quick service restaurants," says Monica Eftimie,
marketing manager of Atlantic Restaurant System, the company that
owns Burger King restaurants in Romania.
Customers who migrated towards Burger King are people with
above-average income, who did not give up their eating habits, but
who sometimes choose to go to Burger King for lunch. There are also
customers who turned from quick-service restaurants to shawarma
shops.
"We are in indirect competition with shawarma shops. They used to
steal customers in the past, as well, but back then it did not
show. But the crisis 'helped'. Those who turn to shawarma places do
it because they think they spend less there."