Fast-food group McDonald’s said it plans to invest a further €117 million in the expansion of its restaurant chain in Romania in 2010 and 2011.

This year, the world’s largest hamburger chain, opened two new restaurants in Sun Plaza and on 1 Decembrie boulevard. “We will open two more restaurants in Bucharest by the end of the year and refit the restaurants in Dristor and Pitesti”, said Karen Bishop (photo) managing director of McDonald’s Romania.

In 2011, the company plans to open three more restaurants and refit five existent units, plans that will cost an estimated 70 million lei. “After 2011, we will open up to ten restaurants per year”, Bishop added.

Last year, the fast-food company reported 4% year-on-year rise in turnover to 416 million lei. “For 2010, we anticipate a 5% increase from last year. In the first quarter this year, the turnover rose 4.5%”, the head of McDonald’s said.

At the 62 McDonald’s restaurants across 21 cities in Romania, work around 3,300 persons. “In the 15 year since we opened our first unit in Romania, we have invested €300 million to date in network expansion and had around 500 million customers, or a daily average of 140,000 customers”, said the representative of McDonald’s.

McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain, with over 32,000 units across 117 countries.