The four best known fast food restaurant operators in Romania, McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King together sold over EUR 160 million of fast food products last year in their 126 restaurants in the country, according to their 2010 financial data, Romania-Insider.com has learned.

Fast food seems to have been a safe bet during tough times, as Romanians continued to eat out, but went for the cheaper fast food products, further filling in the operators' coffers. The industry was also a good job option for more than 5,200 people, who work for the four analyzed companies.

The bulk of the sales went to McDonald's, which also runs the biggest network of fast food restaurants in Romania, with EUR 99.3 million in fast food sales last year. It was followed by KFC- the second largest chain of stores, with fast food sales of EUR 37.5 million. Pizza Hut sold almost EUR 22 million of pizza and other fast food products, while Burger King, the latest addition on the Romanian market (opened in 2008), had sales of only EUR 2.6 million. KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King all increased their sales compared to 2009, when they together sold fast food worth EUR 57.8 million. McDonald's hasn't reported its revenues for 2009.

The profits made by the four operators from selling fast food reached EUR 8.6 million last year, with McDonald's leading the pack with EUR 5.9 million in profit and a profit margin of almost 6 percent. KFC also stayed profitable, with EUR 3.5 million gains and a profit margin of 9 percent, while Pizza Hut made a mere EUR 450,000 in profit last year, or a 2 percent profit margin. Burger King was the only one which posted a loss- EUR 1.27 million last year, higher than the loss in 2009, of EUR 1.13 million.

McDonald's was the biggest employer of the four. It had 3,240 employees at the end of 2010, a staff size comparable to a factory's. For comparison, Ford Romania, which runs a production unit in Romania, has 3,400 employees.

Burger King, with 153 staff, has only eight restaurants in Romania, while Pizza Hut, which has been around for 15 years and employs 676 people, runs 13 restaurants. KFC was first opened in Romania in 1997 and now runs the second largest chain, 40 restaurants across Romania, served by a team of over 1,200 people. McDonald's, the first fast food operator to have entered the Romanian market, runs 65 restaurants across Romania, the largest network of fast food restaurants in Romania. All four brands are operated under franchise on the local market.

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Photoxpress.com)