The FINANCIAL — “US brands seeing that US companies are doing successfully in Georgia is very important as it might encourage them to join us on the Georgian market,” Darrell van Ligten, President–International for The Wendy’s Company, told The FINANCIAL. “Wendy’s is an American brand which is known everywhere. Everyone knows that if Wendy’s enters a market, it means that it trusts the country and it believes that there are opportunities there. I am sure that Wendy’s is encouraging other brands to enter the Georgian market and to follow our experience. We inspire other brands to come here and to make investments in a great country. We also have Dunkin’ Donuts who made the same decision as Wendy’s,” he added.
The Wendy’s restaurant chain is doing well in Georgia in all parameters and Darrell van Ligten says that he is very excited by the Georgian market. The success story of the Wendy’s brand in Georgia continues with the opening of two new restaurants in Tbilisi together with local partner Wissol Group. Ligten hopes that Wendy’s restaurants will soon be opened in two other cities, Batumi and Kutaisi.
“We are very excited about how our business in running in Georgia. We already had restaurants in Rustaveli and Vake and from both the international and customer perspective they are doing well. Our Georgian partners had a great vision about how to bring the Wendy’s brand to the Georgian market and it turned out to be a very successful vision for us. Nowadays, Wendy’s Georgia is proud of not only being the biggest Wendy’s restaurant in the world, but for creating and implementing innovative ideas, which are exported abroad. Georgia has become the prototype for new Wendy’s restaurants in those countries which are going to join the Wendy’s family for the first time. By innovative ideas I mean a new concept which is unique to Wendy’s restaurants. These are: a coffee corner, centre for children to celebrate their birthdays, and game zone. The design is unique and fantastic and we see that the customers love it. Such positive and successful factors really encourage us to expand our business in Georgia together with Wissol Group, our Georgian partner. Opening new restaurants in Tbilisi is a great sign that we are confident in Georgia and its market,” Ligten said.
Wissol Group opened a new branch of its supermarket Smart and American restaurant Wendy’s on Tsintsadze Str. (previously Saburtalo Str.). At the same time a new Wendy’s restaurant was opened in Vake, at Chavchavadze Avenue 36. By expanding Wendy’s and Smart chains, Wissol Group has employed another 300 people.
The Pretzel Burger with beer cheese is a new product which is already available to try at Wendy’s restaurants. One of the most important business aims of Wendy’s is to replace imported products with local ones.
“The investment climate in Georgia is good. The challenge is to find good partners in Georgia. We are fortunate as we found great partners but in general, this is a problem. Having partners which truly understand the business, the market and the distribution is very necessary. More qualified, professional and educated people should be involved in business, I would recommend, and investments should be made in this direction. That is something that international partners would benefit from,” Ligten said.
“Despite its size, the Georgian market is very promising. A few days ago I saw micro economic factors and I looked at what the inflation level is in Georgia and what the GDP growth is. As I see, it is stable and solid. From the macroeconomic perspective we are excited about Georgia. It is hard to compare Georgia with other countries because the market size is different everywhere. But what we see is that Wendy’s restaurants are doing very well here and we are completely satisfied,” he added.
Wendy’s is one of the favourite restaurants of the Georgian population, according to the customer research that Wendy’s conducted in Georgia. “The research found that people love coming here, they love socializing here and love bringing their families to Wendy’s restaurants,” said Ligten.
“What customers always like is quality. They choose brands which provide high quality products. They also like it when a brand communicates with them. Different marketing campaigns that bring your brand closer to your customers are always very productive. Again, from doing customer research they always say that the quality really matters and is what attracts them to the Wendy’s restaurant chain. They also like how Wendy’s food tastes and the service which the restaurant provides. The customers always understand and appreciate all the effort of a company which is designed specially for them,” he added.
“Georgian customers demand high quality food which tastes great. And they also demand a wonderful experience and I think we deliver that. They want a nice environment too. Georgian customers do not want to go everywhere, but only to specific areas where a special environment has been created for them. And everyone can see how gorgeous the design of the Georgian Wendy’s restaurants is. Even the furniture is beautiful. Georgian customers understand the concept of value. They want to make sure that they get what they pay for. When they come to Wendy’s they get that value,” said Ligten.
Wendy’s entered Georgia on 12 September, 2013, and opened its first restaurant on Rustaveli Avenue together with local partner, Wissol Group. Later on, another Wendy’s restaurant was opened on Chavchavadze Avenue. Today there are four Wendy’s restaurants in Tbilisi. Wissol Group, one of the largest business groups in Georgia, signed a license agreement with Wendy’s in 2012 to develop the restaurant chain in Georgia.
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