Subway fast food chain enters Romanian market with Iasi restaurant

American fast food chain Subway will open its first unit in Romania in Iasi, in the North-Eastern part of Romania. The 90 sqm restaurant will be part of the Palas Iasi multifunctional center that will open in April this year. The first Subway opening in Romania was announced in 2010, when the company said it was planning to open shop in Romania and Croatia. The company has opened units in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Slovakia and Croatia. Subway currently runs 36,000 restaurants in 98 countries. Its worldwide competitors are McDonald’s Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, among others. The first three are also present on the Romanian market. The Palasi center, which will require an investment of some EUR 260 million, is being built in partnership with the Iasi City Council, the owner of the land where the project has been built. The real estate developers had estimated the project would bring EUR 150 million in benefits to the local budget until 2055. The compound will include a mall and a shopping street. The shopping center hosts retailers such as H&M, Tommy Hilfiger, New Yorker, C&A, Stefanel, Tosca Blu, Il Passo, L’Occitane, Oodji, Auchan and KFC Drive Thru, and the cinema operator Village Cinema. editor@romania-insider.com