Sotiris Yannopoulos, the general manager of Star Foods Bulgaria and Romania, says after PepsiCo's purchase of Bulgarian producer Penelopa, the company's plant near Bucharest will undergo development.
In early 2007, Star Foods Romania, the biggest player on the salted snacks market, rebranded its chips portfolio, when it introduced Lay's (PepsiCo's international brand) on the market and dropped the Star Chips brand name it had used until then. According to Yannopoulos, however, the brands Star Foods developed domestically before being taken over by PepsiCo have retained an important role on other segments of the salted snacks market.
"Lay's introduction on the Romanian market is the result of two years during which the market impact was analysed and plans and investments were made," the Greek manager said.
During this period, Star Foods invested several million euros in the production facility in Popesti-Leordeni (Ilfov). In the second half of 2007, the company acquired an automated chips production line, which boosted the production capacity of the domestic plant by 25%. Despite Lay's being Star Foods' main product, other domestic brands such as Star Snacks, Star Popcorn, and Krax account for 50% of the products manufactured domestically.
"We won't relinquish our domestic brands. The recent acquisition of Bulgarian company Penelopa allows us to transform national brands into regional ones, and create a presence in the Balkans," says Yannopoulos.
PepsiCo bought Penelopa in early 2007. Prior to the deal, PepsiCo was only present on the Bulgarian market with products imported from its plants in Romania, Greece and Turkey.
Yannopoulos has been in charge of Penelopa since the start of this year. The manager believes there is potential to boost the volume of crisps produced at the Popesti-Leordeni plant and sold in Bulgaria. The firs
