P&G looks to grow in Poland with stackable chips
And PepsiCo will have some more competition for its salty snacks from one of the mega-multinationals finding Poland a receptive market for dozens of its products.
How many canisters of Pringles do they expect to sell? "A helluva lot," says P&G country manager Stef Kranendijk, who launched the brand in April and will start mass-marketing it in May.
No, of course, he won't say how many that means. And he's diplomatic in talking about the head-to-head with PepsiCo. Their entrance here will not be at the expense of others - well, not automatically. He says when P&G comes in, "we are growing the market, so it is more attractive to all players," among retailers and customers both.
Does that mean Pringles could create safe-space for PepsiCo to try again with Fritos? Most consumers turned up their noses at corn chips, but now there are thousands of Poles eating away at the various Tex-Mex restaurants, such as Blue Cactus, El Popo and Paris, Texas, that have sprung up around Warsaw.
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Kranendijk, who is also responsible for P&G's operations in the Baltics and Belarussia, is bullish on Poland. He's not commenting on the prospect of increasing P&G's $190 million commitment here, or on rumors it may introduce more products, maybe make some more here and maybe even buy up a plant or two. He does say that "Poland is a great place to do business."
Beyond P&G sales, and the car-sale resurgence which indicates high consumer demand for lots of people, Kranendijk has his own economic tests for disposable income here. One is foreign travel. "An enormous amount of Poles are going abroad for two-week holidays, to Turkey, to the Austrian Alps. There's a lot of Polish language heard there," he said friends reported when they got back from their own winter-break trips there and elsewhere.
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Stopped in traffic? Lock your car doors. And watch out for folks coming toward you who look like jay-walkers. One of the booming petty-theft patterns is young men walking amidst cars in traffic - who yank open the passenger door and grab the purse or briefcase and are gone before the driver recovers from the shock of it all.
Buses and trams still attract pickpockets, but traffic-jam theft is a notch up the income ladder. And it's almost risk-free: who is going to abandon their car and start a chase across traffic lanes after a runner? One prime gotcha-site is on ulica Marszalkowska in the city center by McDonald's, says Beverley Hart of the U.S. Embassy. She was a victim there this spring. Another is on crowded streets in Praga, where traffic deadlocks are notorious. That's where P&G brand-manager Brenda Bence was hit up recently.
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So who was surprised by the mega-deal between @Entertainment and Canal+? Just about everybody. Including their accountants at KPMG - who read it first from Poland AM's pickup of that morning's exclusive in Zycie, says tax service manager Eva Doyle. Lots of entertainment reporters felt abused - an entourage had just been wined and dined at @Entertainment's Maidstone, U.K. production facilities and had stories in print to coincide with the Wizja TV launch. One outfit that kept the new lid tight: Agora, which owns Gazeta Wyborcza. Agora, which is an investor in Canal+ Polska, now will have 10% of the new organization, another step up in their fast track to being one of Central Europe's first multiple-media giants.
Venture capitalist Heather Potter says you never talk until the deal is done - because lots of almost-done deals fall apart at the last minute. Her own critique of the deal? "It's a natural combination, in some respects. If you want to make a claim on this market, then the two most competitive players getting together makes for strength." Potter was with the Polish American Enterprise Fund and now is a partner in the Barings Communication Equity Emerging Europe fund. Yes, she's got some deals cooking in four different countries, and no, she won't talk about them yet. Wait 'till the fat lady sings.
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It's exit time for a talented expatriate and caterer, Patricia Velasco. Her mom, Dora Briceno, the counsel at the Venezuelan embassy, remains in Warsaw, but Velasco is moving to Florence to take cooking classes, then possibly to France, then to New York. She eventually will return to Venezuela.
She started her catering firm Velasco a year after arriving in 1996 and grew with the market. She had worked with Hiltons back home and knew marketing, pricing and customer service - but not necessarily ordering food and in just the right quantities.
"I remember buying 10 kilos of meat for a dinner party of 50, we were eating leftover meat for months," she confesses.
Now, it is much easier to find almost any ingredient; she used to search 40 stories to find what she wanted.
Finding part-time help - not too pricey but with language skills and someone who would not leave for college overseas just after being trained - was always a challenge.
The mix of clients also evolved. Today, more Poles hire caterers. "The hosts used to spend all their time in the kitchen, you never saw them. ... Hiring other people was for diplomats or foreigners."
Business is booming. And one of Velasco's proteges is among the startups competing for it: Wieslawa Kazimierska with her home-based company Vera. She started out cleaning for Velasco but "had so much energy and ambition" that she soon began learning all aspects of the business. And now she's going flying on her own - with some exit referrals from Velasco.
How many canisters of Pringles do they expect to sell? "A helluva lot," says P&G country manager Stef Kranendijk, who launched the brand in April and will start mass-marketing it in May.
No, of course, he won't say how many that means. And he's diplomatic in talking about the head-to-head with PepsiCo. Their entrance here will not be at the expense of others - well, not automatically. He says when P&G comes in, "we are growing the market, so it is more attractive to all players," among retailers and customers both.
Does that mean Pringles could create safe-space for PepsiCo to try again with Fritos? Most consumers turned up their noses at corn chips, but now there are thousands of Poles eating away at the various Tex-Mex restaurants, such as Blue Cactus, El Popo and Paris, Texas, that have sprung up around Warsaw.
l l l
Kranendijk, who is also responsible for P&G's operations in the Baltics and Belarussia, is bullish on Poland. He's not commenting on the prospect of increasing P&G's $190 million commitment here, or on rumors it may introduce more products, maybe make some more here and maybe even buy up a plant or two. He does say that "Poland is a great place to do business."
Beyond P&G sales, and the car-sale resurgence which indicates high consumer demand for lots of people, Kranendijk has his own economic tests for disposable income here. One is foreign travel. "An enormous amount of Poles are going abroad for two-week holidays, to Turkey, to the Austrian Alps. There's a lot of Polish language heard there," he said friends reported when they got back from their own winter-break trips there and elsewhere.
l l l
Stopped in traffic? Lock your car doors. And watch out for folks coming toward you who look like jay-walkers. One of the booming petty-theft patterns is young men walking amidst cars in traffic - who yank open the passenger door and grab the purse or briefcase and are gone before the driver recovers from the shock of it all.
Buses and trams still attract pickpockets, but traffic-jam theft is a notch up the income ladder. And it's almost risk-free: who is going to abandon their car and start a chase across traffic lanes after a runner? One prime gotcha-site is on ulica Marszalkowska in the city center by McDonald's, says Beverley Hart of the U.S. Embassy. She was a victim there this spring. Another is on crowded streets in Praga, where traffic deadlocks are notorious. That's where P&G brand-manager Brenda Bence was hit up recently.
l l l
So who was surprised by the mega-deal between @Entertainment and Canal+? Just about everybody. Including their accountants at KPMG - who read it first from Poland AM's pickup of that morning's exclusive in Zycie, says tax service manager Eva Doyle. Lots of entertainment reporters felt abused - an entourage had just been wined and dined at @Entertainment's Maidstone, U.K. production facilities and had stories in print to coincide with the Wizja TV launch. One outfit that kept the new lid tight: Agora, which owns Gazeta Wyborcza. Agora, which is an investor in Canal+ Polska, now will have 10% of the new organization, another step up in their fast track to being one of Central Europe's first multiple-media giants.
Venture capitalist Heather Potter says you never talk until the deal is done - because lots of almost-done deals fall apart at the last minute. Her own critique of the deal? "It's a natural combination, in some respects. If you want to make a claim on this market, then the two most competitive players getting together makes for strength." Potter was with the Polish American Enterprise Fund and now is a partner in the Barings Communication Equity Emerging Europe fund. Yes, she's got some deals cooking in four different countries, and no, she won't talk about them yet. Wait 'till the fat lady sings.
l l l
It's exit time for a talented expatriate and caterer, Patricia Velasco. Her mom, Dora Briceno, the counsel at the Venezuelan embassy, remains in Warsaw, but Velasco is moving to Florence to take cooking classes, then possibly to France, then to New York. She eventually will return to Venezuela.
She started her catering firm Velasco a year after arriving in 1996 and grew with the market. She had worked with Hiltons back home and knew marketing, pricing and customer service - but not necessarily ordering food and in just the right quantities.
"I remember buying 10 kilos of meat for a dinner party of 50, we were eating leftover meat for months," she confesses.
Now, it is much easier to find almost any ingredient; she used to search 40 stories to find what she wanted.
Finding part-time help - not too pricey but with language skills and someone who would not leave for college overseas just after being trained - was always a challenge.
The mix of clients also evolved. Today, more Poles hire caterers. "The hosts used to spend all their time in the kitchen, you never saw them. ... Hiring other people was for diplomats or foreigners."
Business is booming. And one of Velasco's proteges is among the startups competing for it: Wieslawa Kazimierska with her home-based company Vera. She started out cleaning for Velasco but "had so much energy and ambition" that she soon began learning all aspects of the business. And now she's going flying on her own - with some exit referrals from Velasco.
