Royal nod puts bakery among the upper crust

With a tradition going back more than 160 years, bakery Spicul has a new face: it became the exclusive supplier to the Romanian Royal House earlier this year and also improved its brand portfolio. But , president and CEO of the company, has more big ideas in store: he intends to increase the company’s market share from 2 percent this year to 10 percent in the next two or three years.

Anca Ionescu

Ilie Gheorghe started his association with Spicul 19 years ago. He joined the bakery in 1991 as commercial manager and two years later rose to general manager. But he is also the artisan of the business, and has been the company’s majority stockholder since 1991. At the moment the manufacturer is entirely in the hands of private investors. “I sold the land in the Orhideelor area four years ago to the real estate developer Hercesa and one year later we started to build the new location on the industrial platform in the Chitila area,” remembers Gheorghe.

Spicul sees itself as more than just a bakery. Its origins lie 160 years ago, when watermills designed to process the wheat were certified for the first time. Since its early years of operations, the firm has distinguished itself through the quality of its products, and has been included on the list of the suppliers to the Royal House.

Although Gheorghe has a technical and economic background – he graduated from the Construction University in Bucharest and the Academy of Economic Studies (ASE) – he decided to take a different professional path. “The idea to develop this business came from my professional experience and from many visits to milling companies and bread manufacturers in countries such as Austria, Italy, France, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands,” says the CEO . He adds that his eagerness to harness his experience of more than 40 years in the food industry was one of the main reasons he got involved in Spicul. “We wanted to produce traditional, healthy and useful bread and breadstuffs,” explains the entrepreneur.

In his opinion, the most difficult moment his company has faced was the investment itself, because of the specific local economic conditions – from the approval to build a plant to the moment when it became operational. “I can say that anyone who invests in Romania is treated like an enemy,” says Gheorghe.

If he started another business he wouldn’t change anything. But when it comes to the challenges his business has faced he says there are plenty. The strategy of his business, Gheorghe says, is built around the customer. “Our philosophy is to support the customer, to prevent decay, to help the customer maintain his or her health and not to act in a curative manner as the majority of Romanians do at the moment,” he explains. His main goal – except the financial one – is to offer very healthy food at the right price.

As for competition on the market, Gheorghe says that supply is five times higher than demand, with 90 percent of the total products coming from the black market. He adds that the company has a 1-2 percent market share at the moment but he intends to increase it to 8-10 percent in the next two or three years. The bakery made fresh moves this summer when it launched new products such as Clatituta Zgloby and the range of products Slabesti Mancand on the market. Granzela and Toastiny (sliced and packed bread), Zgloby (pastry products), City, Hatz Rostogol and Hatz cu Coltz (biscuits) are part of the firm’s brand portfolio.

On top of that, Spicul has become the exclusive supplier of bread and milling products to the Romanian Royal House. “This status is an honor for Spicul and it is confirmation of the high quality of our products,” says Gheorghe.

He says that his company differentiates itself from the crowd through its up-to-the-minute technology, which allows it to produce high quality products. The EUR 30 million of new investments made in order to modernize the technology at the plant is one of the largest investments in the local bread production and milling industry. Money was used to build a construction plant in the Chitila area and to buy new production lines from Japan, Austria and the Netherlands. The company posted a EUR 5.5 million turnover in 2008 and had 219 employees at the end of 2008.

As for the future, Gheorghe has one thing in his mind for Spicul: further development despite the current economic crisis.

“We are working now on a primary processing project and we are trying to launch the starch and gluten plant as well as the wheat and maize mills by the end of this year,” concludes Gheorghe.