Franchise news

Position of General Secretary in The Hungarian Franchise Association still vacant. Dr. István Kiss, the present general secretary is certain to stay for the first quarter of 2008.

The 4th Budapest International Franchise Exhibition and BuyBrand Show organised by Dakexpo was more successful than expected.
Sr Patata was one of the most popular exhibitors. This Spanish fast food chain offers potato dishes. They opened their first restaurant in Hungary, in Debrecen, last August.

Nordsee is to re-enter the Hungarian market. The German chain which had already operated two restaurants in Hungary in the past has found the right franchise partner and is about to re-enter this market. This time, they intend to follow a different price policy.

California Coffee Company has opened new unit in Budapest.
The café chain has opened a new unit in the Kálvin square office building but they regard the off-Budapest market equally important.

Dynamic expansion by the Coffeeshop Company. During 2007, the number of their units has grown from one to six. Expansion is to continue, with the number of units expected to reach 20 by the end of 2008. The cafés in Hungary are operated without franchise partners.

Starbucks is to open its first café in Hungary during 2008. The chain which has 13 ,000 units at the moment, intends to open 40,000 new units – or according to other sources – increase the present number to 40,000 in the future. Half of these are to be opened outside the US.

The franchise chain Amerikai Hot-Dog seems to have gone out of business. As it is not possible to reach the management of the company and their web site is no longer active, the membership of the company has been suspended by the Hungarian Franchise Association.