ROMANIA: Raul Ciurtin enters the ready-meal category with a 4 million euros investment | Progresiv

Raul Ciurtin, the entrepreneur who founded 18 years ago the Albalact business, acquired by the French company Lactalis two years ago, is investing four million euros in the expansion of Capricii si Delicii products and in the ready-meal area.

The Capricii si Delicii brand is present on the canned foods market and is part of the Prefera Foods portfolio, one of the major players in the canned market. The company owns a factory in Oiejdea, Alba County, and last year acquired the Salconserv production facility in Medias. Here will be made Capricii si Delicii products for the ready-meal category.

Launching this market segment will take place over two months with an initial portfolio of 10 products.

"We want to test these products locally, which we will distribute in modern retail, and in the second part of the year we will expand ourselves nationwide. It will be a dynamic portfolio that we will develop throughout this year. We chose ready-meal because we are talking about a category that is increasingly demanded by consumers because of their active lifestyle, and retailers are very interested in expanding this segment. We have the advantage of local fresh production, and there is a place to develop in the market", Raul Ciurtin told Progresiv.

The 4 million euros investment was directed to the acquisition of assets and machinery. In total, the investment budget for Prefera Foods amounts to eight million euros this year.

As for the turnover estimates for this year, Ciurtin talks about reaching the 14 million threshold, only from canned products.