Sphera Franchise Group is the largest group in the Romanian food service industry, owning the companies that operate in franchise system KFC, Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut Delivery and Taco Bell brands in Romania and KFC in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, and in some areas in Italy.
The group owns more than 170 restaurants in the three markets and employs more than 4,700 people. Sphera Franchise Group is the only HoReCa player present on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, where it was listed in 2017, under the symbol SFG, which is included in the main BET index, as well as in the FTSE Global Microcap.
Development through relevance and trust.
Be the leaders in the Romanian food service industry and become an important player at European level.
Offer customers a memorable experience, backed by excellent services and unique products prepared by passionate teams.
Our success comes from teamwork. We work with the colleagues to implement and adopt the best practices; with the customers to offer them excellent experiences; with the community to create the premises for development.
We increase confidence in the human potential. We trust our colleagues and their positive intentions. We offer confidence to our customers through the quality of our products and services. We are responsible and accountable for our actions.
We appreciate every achievement. We celebrate our successes and those of others. We are grateful for the opportunities for personal development. We are grateful to the team for their support.
We act promptly and look forward to the future. We focus on priorities and solutions. We do not tolerate inequities.
We grow people and business. We encourage employees to grow both personally and professionally. We grow management teams directed to SMART & HEART & COURAGE & GREEN. We build SMART restaurants for our customers.
Călin Ionescu is the Chief Executive Officer of Sphera Franchise Group, starting with October 2020. He studied Marketing and Management at the Romanian-American University in Bucharest and has almost 30 years of experience in Horeca, having started in 1994, with the opening of the first Pizza Hut restaurant in Romania. He held various positions in the operations area, from Restaurant Manager to General Manager, and in 2012 he was promoted to Director of Operations. Throughout this period, he actively participated in the expansion process of KFC and Pizza Hut in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, and in 2016, he laid the foundations for the development of KFC in the north-east and north-west of Italy.
Valentin Budeș is the Chief Financial Officer of Sphera Franchise Group, since May 2019. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Economic Studies in Foreign Languages, French section, at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and holds a master’s degree in International Accounting from the same university. He is a senior member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and holds a certification in risk management issued by the Institute of Internal Auditors (USA). He is also an expert accountant member of CECCAR and an insolvency practitioner, being a member of UNPIR. Before entering the restaurant industry, Valentin worked in financial consulting, at KPMG Romania, as well as within the financial division of the telecommunications companies of the Telekom Romania group (Cosmote, Telemobil, Germanos and Nextgen). He was also responsible for the financial activities of the Medicover Romania Group for approximately 3 years.
Monica Eftimie is the Chief Marketing Officer of Sphera Franchise Group, since August 2017. She graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University (USA) and holds an MBA from Georgetown University (USA). Monica has been working within the companies of the Group for over 10 years. She was Marketing Director of Pizza Hut and KFC, from which position she developed and coordinated the implementation of local marketing campaigns for these brands, and she coordinated the successful launch in Romania of Taco Bell, the famous Californian brand with Mexican-inspired food. She was also Marketing Director for Paul bakeries in Romania. With over 14 years of experience in the Quick Service Restaurant industry, Monica began her marketing career with internships at Accor Group (France) and Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising and developed complex marketing campaigns for some of the most well-known industry names such as McDonald’s.
