01.11.2008

Marché International and the Croatian fuel retailer Tifon, MOL Group subsidiary, opens their first common subsidiary in Croatia, seven Tifon gas stations being about to also display the Marché® logo along Croatia’s highways in the near future.

The cooperation will involve the operation of five rest stops that currently exist and two others that are planned to be built in the forthcoming period. The new Marché locations will be found within the Tifon filling stations along some of the most traveled roads used by tourists between Zagreb and Split, as well as between Zagreb and Rijeka.

This agreement is a continuation of a series, as in the frame of MOL Group and Marché International co-operation, in Hungary three restau-rants have been already opened at MOL filling stations. There are plans to open altogether seven Marché restaurants in the forthcoming months in Hungary.

Seven Rest Stops in Croatia
The existing restaurants will be successively remodeled so that they comply with the various Marché® design and marketing concepts. The design of the new restaurants will be represented by Marché® Restaurants, Marché® Bistros and Marché® Natural Bakeries in Croatia. Marché International will also operate two hotels at the highway Tifon rest stops in Ravna Gora and Draganic. Aside from the five existing rest stops, two new Tifon locations will also be opened by the end of 2008 in Draganic.

Freshness Strategy as a Success Factor
Fresh, healthy and fast: That’s what the Marché® concept is all about. But it’s not only about freshness: Quality and seasonality are two of the most important pillars upon which Marché® builds its concept. Marché Interna-tional generated total sales of CHF 300.9 million in 2007 from approxi-mately 100 locations. More than 3,500 people are currently employed by Marché International, coming from 61 different nations.

Thanks to the strict and unwavering implementation of its strategies for freshness and quality, Marché International was awarded numerous pres-tigious recognitions from the gastronomic industry and customer’s awards and praises for its freshness campaign. These included the selection as one of the two best rest stops in Europe (ADAC), the best rest stop world-wide (BBC Group), the best gastronomic concept in Germany and the best rest stops in Austria and in Switzerland. Marché International was awarded the prestigious German Gastronomic Award in 2008 for its successful concep-tual relaunch and die repositioning of the Marché® brand name. While stating their reasons for this award, the jury concluded that “CEO Oliver Altherr had been successful in infecting – so to speak – his 3,500 employ-ees with his heart-felt passion for the product and in motivating them to peak performance.”
 

• PM_CH_EN_OpeningCroatia_20081101.pdf (pdf, 60.78 KB)