CASE Franc.ua

Until 2012, Oleksandr Fedets, the future owner of Fedets family bakery, was developing small, independent establishments in Kryvyi Rih. The idea was born in the crisis year of 2009, and the story began with the opening of a full-cycle bakery department, “Bakery No. 1”. Things were going well, the establishment was a success, and the owner realized that he wanted to continue. In 6 months, 7 more full-cycle branches were opened. The next step was to open his own centralized production.

The process of learning from implemented cases and market analysis began. At that time, Oleksandr actively visited many exhibitions in Europe and learned about the interesting approach of the Germans, which he franchised a few years later.

In 2012, at the Franchising exhibition in Kyiv, Oleksandr met Myroslava Kozachuk. Knowing about the cases at that time, he did not miss the opportunity to ask for advice on what kind of business to choose for his wife. But when he told Myroslava about his business, he got an answer: “Sasha, refine your project and you will be very successful! You have your own production, and the format of bakeries with high service is a trend!”

It was at the exhibition, over a cup of coffee, that we came up with the idea to open a French bakery, which everyone now knows as the Franc.ua brand. When he returned to Kryvyi Rih, he had a new goal: to make the coolest project in Ukraine. At that time, a 30-square-meter space in a kiosk in the heart of Kryvyi Rih, in the 95th district, had just become available. The main motivation for such a big opening was responsibility. Specifically, responsibility to the people who work at the production facility, to the company that provided the funds for the equipment, and to my wife.

An important component of the launch was the formation of the necessary cost of production and the opening of the facility. When Oleksandr negotiated with suppliers, he inspired them with his idea to build the largest network in Ukraine and invited them to take a chance and get on this bandwagon at the first station. UPD for now: no one regrets their decision for sure 🙂

After the opening of the new format, there were queues of customers. Huge demand, novelty of the format, affordable product, in-house production and, of course, the black color – all these components combined to make the kiosk extremely popular among young people. And this is despite the close proximity to McDonald’s (Franc.ua opened 10 meters from the international leader).

And when Oleksandr was standing in line at the supermarket and heard students say, “Meet me at Franc.ua” instead of “Meet me at McDonald’s,” he realized that he was heading in the right direction.