Thirteen fast food franchises will be opening 40 new stores this year, after 2015 saw the arrival of some new players and the departure of others.
A survey carried out by Nacion.com on the franchising industry revealed that about 40 new stores will generate 360 jobs this year, compared to the 654 redundancies recorded in fast foodrestaurants segment in 2015.
The restaurant chain Bagelmen's has closed seven stores which had been operating in the country for fourteen years, in addition to the recent closure of Wendy's, which closed its doors in early January.
Bagelmen's is the second large fast food chain which has closed its operations in the country this year. The closure of seven premises located in San Pedro, Lindora, Rohrmoser, Sabanilla, Heredia, Escazú and Guinoes, was announced by the owners of the company on January 24, without providing further details.
Costa Rican Brands of restaurants chains and coffee shops such as Spoon and La Fabbrica are counting on economic growth in Panama and opening branches in the capital.
AT the moment the restaurant chain La Fabbrica is maintaining its expansion with an increase of between 10% and 15% in Central America, while Spoon plans to start exporting Costa Rican branded products to Nicaragua, Panama and Puerto Rico.
According to the union of restaurants, the close of the chain Wendy's reflects the saturation of a market which between 2010 and 2014 saw the opening of 244 outlets.
The east and west zones of the greater metropolitan area of the country are reporting higher saturation levels, according to the Costa Rican Chamber of Restaurants, since the supply per person in this sector "... has the same levels as cities such as Paris and New York."
Fast food chains have announced investments of $13 million in the opening of nine chicken restaurants and improvements in other infrastructure.
In order to meet the growing the demand for chicken meals, the chains KFC, Rostipollos, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and As will make investments in 2013 which together total $12.7 million.
There are at least 15 Costa Rican restaurant chains where burgers are the highlight dish on the menu.
International brands include Mc'Donald's with its 50 stores, Burger King with 31 and Wendy's with 13 restaurants. Other fast foodfranchises with burgers on the menu are "Carl's Jr., which debuted in 2011 and has six locations, and Smashburger, which opened its first store in Lincoln Square, earlier this month."
While Chili's and Buffalo Wild Wings open their first branches in Costa Rica, the established Applebee's, Subway, Quizno's, McDonald's, KFC and Teriyaki have increased their investments.
Before the end of the year, Hooters will open its fourth restaurant on Paseo Metropolis, in Cartago, east of San José, with an investment of $1 million.
The restaurant chain Chili's will open its first store in the new food court at Multiplaza Escazú next week.
With an investment of $2 million, the first restaurant measuring 500 square meters, will seat about 230 people, said Andres Gomez, general manager of CRB restaurants, the owners of the franchise.
Under pressure from increased competition, the burger franchise plans to open 5 new stores in 2012 and 6 in 2013.
The burger chain has 31 locations in Costa Rica, but plans to open five new stores in 2012 which will also have a revamped exterior image, said Mario Jimenez, director of operations and logistics of Be Ca Costa Rica, the owner of the Burger King franchise in the country.
The Franchises Buffalo Wings and Moe's are to start operations in August in Plaza Tempo, located in Escazu.
For the U.S. food chain, Moe's, the opening of its branch in Costa Rica is it’s first foray into Latin America. The company also plans to open another branch in July 2013, in Plaza Carolina Mall, also in the Costa Rican capital.
The franchise company QSR International is to open 15 new stores during 2012, and invest in the remodeling and reopening of three others.
QSR International, which owns the fast-food franchiseKFC and Quizno's Sub in the region, will open 8 new KFC restaurants and 7 new Quizno's outlets in Costa Rica.
Those that are already here are expanding by opening more stores, while other franchises are coming to settle in a market with rapidly changing trends in consumer dining.
In 2012 seven new concepts will join the fast-food market .
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