Business news from Ukraine

Lviv bakery chain enters US market

12 August , 2024  

Ukrainian restaurant chain Lviv Croissants has entered the US market, where together with a partner it invested $220 thousand in opening a bakery and production of frozen croissants in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.

“Lviv Croissants is now in America! The first Lviv Croissants bakery in the United States is located in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia and is already receiving its first guests. Locals love quality healthy food, and we know how to cook it, so it’s a total match. And we also know how to surprise with a variety of flavors, create a friendly atmosphere and a sense of place where you can be yourself,” the company’s website says.

Lviv Croissants founder Andriy Galitsky told Forbes Entrepreneurs Forum that the company spent two years preparing to enter the U.S. market, while it took about five months to prepare to enter the European markets. This is the third expansion of the Ukrainian chain abroad after Poland and Slovakia.

The co-owner and CEO of the American restaurant is local entrepreneur Brett Larrabee, whom Galitsky met at a franchising expo in New York in 2018. Larrabee has been working in restaurant franchising for 37 years, notably developing the American brands Five Guys, Famous Daves BBQ, Little Caesars, Subway and Pancheros, Forbes writes.

Lviv Croissants is a Ukrainian international franchise restaurant chain founded in 2015. It specializes in making croissants, has 177 establishments in Ukraine, 11 in Poland and 1 in Slovakia. It is a part of Fast Food Franchising Group.

Fast Food Franchising Group LLC was founded in 2015 in Lviv.

The company’s net loss in 2023 amounted to UAH 598.3 thousand, compared to UAH 483 thousand net profit a year earlier. Income for last year increased by 55.1%, to UAH 6.939 million, debt obligations – by 9.7 times, to UAH 188.9 thousand, while assets decreased by 19%, to UAH 1.89 million.

Beneficiaries of the company are PE Firma Infobud, which owns 50% of shares, Eugene and Andrei Galitsky (20% each), as well as Yuri Zagrodsky (10%).

 

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