Online & mobile food deliveries expect boost after VAT cut on Romania’s EUR 3 mln market

Romania’s recent decision to VAT cut on food from 24% to 9% will help boost the food ordering and related ervices, according to HelloHungry, which runs two online food ordering sites in Romania. The company estimates the online and mobile food ordering in Romania stays at some EUR 3 million anually, some 0.2% of the total local food services market. “While reducing VAT will definitely cut the VAT refunding evasion, it will also allow restaurants and related services, such as food ordering and catering to hire more personnel and better pay the existing one, while improving the overall services quality”, said Dragos Cristea, Sales Manager, HelloHungy Romania. HelloHungy Romania runs local players Quicky.ro and Oliviera.ro, both covering the Bucharest market. Our expansion plans envisage the largest cities such as Timisoara, and we are confident that a serious VAT reduction will enable restaurant managers to offer even better discounts to our customers, either individual or group corporate food ordering,” Cristea added. Romanian households spend about 70% of their income on foods and drinks, which is the highest ratio in Europe. Growing economic activity in Bucharest and other big cities in Romania is sustaining a good growth rate of food delivery service which almost doubled between 2012 - 2013 with an average spent on online delivery of 70 RON, according to the company. HelloHungry, owner of BGmenu.com, is the largest food and catering ordering service in Bulgaria, with more than 500 restaurants enrolled and 50,000 annual customers. It entered the Romanian market last year, when it acquired Quicky.ro and Oliviera.ro. According to its data, the company has a 34% market share in Romania. In Bulgaria, it says it is market leader, with a share of 49%. Romanian Government: VAT cut will have EUR 4.1 bln impact on the budget PwC: Shelf price should reflect VAT cut in Romania Editor@romania-insider.com