Petrescu, City Grill: The restaurant market will rebound in 2012 because it is underdeveloped

Dragoş Petrescu, the businessman who controls several restaurant businesses, will open two BackWerk bakeries, a City Cafe coffee shop and a Bundetot restaurant - shawarma place, in which he will invest 650-900,000 euros, according to ZF calculations, based on the average investment per every type of eating place. This year in September Petrescu will open the second Hanu Berarilor brewpub in Bucharest, on Pache Protopopescu Boulevard. He invested 1 million euros in the place, an amount that also includes the land where the brewpub is located.

"2011 is a decisive year for us. The financial crisis has been a big opportunity for this market segment. The main advantages are that non-competitive players have disappeared from the market and other sectors that stifled the real estate market were cleaned up. New available spaces have appeared as a result," explains Petrescu.

Following the opening of new restaurants, coffee shops and brewpubs, Petrescu expects turnover to increase 23% against 2010, when it amounted to around 16 million euros.

Although he admits one cannot talk about an exit from crisis yet, Petrescu expects the first signs of rebound to be seen in the second half of the year. Moreover, the restaurant market will return to growth in 2012 because it is underdeveloped.