In many regions of the world, street food is more than a way to feed you. It is part of the culture of the place, blending in with local customs and traditions. In Romania, the concept is rather new, benefitting from little exposure in the country, at least in its clean, professional form, as it is most recently encountered through the great market places of the world.
Until a few years ago, street food in Romania was confused with celebrations dedicated to a certain city or municipality, or with wine or beer festivals. During these manifestations, traditional Romanian products were served, and the emphasis was on volume. More recently, all kinds of international influences have begun to penetrate the country, focusing more on taste, appearance and presentation. Thus, the new street food model is a gourmet one, and its explosion on the Romanian market has occurred in the past 2-3 years.
The strong popularization of this way of dining began in 2016 with the organization of the Street Food Festival in Cluj, truly the first festival dedicated to street food in Romania. The success of the festival as well as the curiosity triggered among consumers turned the 2017 edition of the Street Food Festival into a real caravan that went through no less than nine cities. Again, success was beyond expectations.
As a result, permanent thematic parks focused on this street food concept have already begun to appear in Bucharest. Investments have been strong in this respect, and the chosen locations have always been in areas frequented by corporates, who may be considered a sort of target audience of street food and, moreover, the most loyal consumers of this type of product. The big advantage of such parks is that of the variety of dishes proposed that is likely to satisfy any preference. Thus, this type of business can only be profitable, with the prospect of street-based businesses growing exponentially in the near future.
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