Exclusive: French Bakery family business owners to open new restaurant in Bucharest's Old Town

The group of investors who own the French Bakery chain of cafes and restaurants in Bucharest will open a restaurant under a new brand in the Old Town in Bucharest, adjoining the Caru cu Bere restaurant on Stavropoleus street, which is currently under revamping works, Romania-Insider.com has learned. Romanian investors Lucian Manu, the majority shareholder in the project, his wife Joana Forsea and his brother Dinu Cismarescu, also owners of the French Bakery chain, have bought the historic building in the Old Town which will host the new restaurant and plan to open it by the end of May this year. The new restaurant will operate under a different brand than the French Bakery, a chain which also includes two restaurant components. The group of investors also own the Balthazar restaurant in Bucharest. “During one of our visits to Romania, Lucian saw and fell in love with this building in the old Bucharest. He was almost drawn to it,” Joana Forsea tells Romania-Insider.com. This building will be a restaurant on the first floor and the lower level, while the upper floor will include lofts, similarly to the ones found in Soho, in New York. Lucian Manu left a highly profitable psychiatric office in the heart of New York to follow a calling of helping grow and nurture his ideal Romania,” his wife Joana tells Romania-Insider.com.

The new restaurant in the Old Town would be a third brand in the portfolio of the group of investors. Lucian Manu, Dan Cismarescu and Tony Belizarie also own the Balthazar restaurant in Bucharest, which was opened in 2001. Manu, Dinu Cismarescu and Serban Cismarescu also own the furniture company Innova. Lucian Manu and his brothers Dinu and Serban Cismarescu, sons of writer, poet and essayist Emil Manu are all doctors – two have graduated medicine and, the youngest, Serban, the dental school. However, none of the three are currently practicing medicine. French Bakery runs nine units in Bucharest which are directly owned, and two under franchise. A French Bakery franchise costs EUR 10,000, which is the initial tax, while the total investment in opening a unit starts with EUR 50,000. Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com (photos: Corina Saceanu/romania-insider.com)