Less than 20 kilometres away from Bucharest, on former arable land, 30 trucks displaying the logo "My fine yoghurt" and "My Sana" leave the dairy facilities of the Tnuva Israeli group every day; providing direct distribution to stores in the capital city, Timisoara and Cluj.
The Israeli dairy producer initially bet 55m euros on the Romanian market at a time when another two major European companies in the industry, Meggle and Lactalis, chose not to operate greenfield investments in Romania.
Around 230 people work at the plant in Popesti-Leordeni, which is located on a 17,000-square metre site. The Israelis recruited staff from across the country, with the number of employees expected to rise to 300 by the yearend.
According to Cristina Vasilescu, a HR manager with the company, the personnel were recruited either through job websites or newspaper ads. However, the plant's first employees, who are currently in management positions, arrived in Romania several years ago.
Out of the 230 employees working at the company, 25% are members of the management team and are mainly Romanian.
All of the other employees were hired after the HR manager implemented some strict requirements. "First we established the company's values and then started looking for people who could match these values, who had experience in the respective positions," said Cristina Vasilescu.
Up to a point, the investment of the Israeli group in Romania follows the trajectory drawn-up in 1998 by the French group Danone, one of the company's main rivals on the segment of yoghurts. In both cases, the investment was initiated via a partnership with the EBRD, whilst neither involved acquisitions. Instead however, while Danone entered the market at a time when yoghurt consumption was below one kilo per capita and the market was, as yet, unshaped, Tnuva arrived on the market at a time when yoghurt consumption had increased six times, but was still below the European average. This huge growth potential encouraged the Israelis to bet on building the first plant outside their local market, in Romania.
Nevertheless, the time the Israeli chose to operate their investment - 2006, and the size of the investment, a greenfield project on 17,000 square metres, were generally regarded with overall scepticism. Also, at that time, both Meggle and Lactalis decided against greenfield investments on the domestic market, although both had been considering the market for several years. At present, Tnuva products are distributed both through Metro, Selgros, Billa and Real hypermarket chains, as well as to a large number of supermarkets and proximity stores.
Tnuva, with annual sales worth $1.5bn, has two branches in Romania, the first centred on production and the second including a farm with over 600 cows, which is located in Adunatii Copaceni.
Tnuva in brief
The Israeli dairy producer bet 55m euros on the Romanian market at a time when another two major European companies in the industry, Meggle and Lactalis, chose not to operate a greenfield investment in Romania
Around 230 people work at the plant in Popesti-Leordeni, located on a 17,000-square metre site, whom the Israelis recruited from across the country. The number is due to rise to 300 by yearend
The group, with annual sales of $1.5bn, has two branches in Romania
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