Is there enough demand for a Halal Mini Market in Bucharest?

The answer is : NO!
Romania is not a "communitarist" country! If you come to live here you have to fit to the  romanian lifestyle: eat pork and drink palinka 80 ° alcohol.
That's the only busness that could work here!

No, people  here become more interested in vegetarian restaurants, not to mention that halal ritual slaughter starts becoming prohibited in Europe.
Spices would be more of interest, maybe some vegetarian groceries.

Hi Tariq,
Of course there is Romania is becoming a bigger open market with increasing number of expats a lot of them are muslims .
Halal minimarkets get always a huge interest even from non muslims because of the high quality meat

Tariq Jarral wrote:

I live in UK and wonder where there is enough demand around the year for Pakistani - Indian groceries/ Halal meat demand in Bucharest. I am a shopfitter by trade and wouldn't mind exploring this new market. Please advise me of your experiences. Kind regards.

I suggest that you do some in depth research first, find out numbers of Muslims in Bucharest, where they are mainly based, see if there are any other halal shops in the area and then find out how to go about setting up one yourself.

You would also need to research suppliers of good quality meat.

I found this, but I lost the link.

According to the 2002 Census, there are 67,566 Muslims in Romania constituting 0.3% of the population. Most of the muslims are Romanian Turks and Tatars with a handful of Roma Muslims. 97% of the Muslim population lives in Dobruja while the remaining 3% live mostly in Bucharest. In Dobruja, 5.2% of the population are muslim. (Constanta County - 6.6%, Tulcea County 1.5%) There are 77 - 80 mosques in Romania and 108 Islamic cemetaries.

Assuming that's correct, it leaves a couple of thousand Muslims in Bucharest, probably less.
However, the student population may not be included in those numbers.
Minority population groups tend to cluster, so find out if that's true of Muslims in your area, then go for a walk.
Look at local shops, and ask local Muslims where they shop.

OANA C wrote:

The answer is : NO!
Romania is not a "communitarist" country! If you come to live here you have to fit to the  romanian lifestyle: eat pork and drink palinka 80 ° alcohol.
That's the only busness that could work here!

Let me get this right.
You're saying, if I go to live there, I must eat a meat I dislike, and drink an alcoholic beverage that will damage my liver, and give me a serious headache next day.
What funny rules you have.

I suspect these rules are in your head, not reality.

Dear Oana, many thanks for your reply. I do not wish to get into an debate with someone who has a tunnel vision towards the global village that we live in today's world. If I was to go by only your own rule that you had listed in your post then a small argument would be to say that anyone consuming oil from muslim country in any part of the world should speak and act like an arab. We both know that is would not be fair.I am a liberal person who tolerate and respect all others around him as long as they are not harming or hurting anyone else's feelings.

Also, I had employed 15 romanian staff here in UK out of 30 from which only 3 were muslims. Some of my colleages from romania hardly ate the the british bread and always prefered romanian bread from a local romanian grocer. So how do you wish to change your own society before you look at others to change. Halal shop means a choice for people who want to have that choice. If a muslim chose to eat non halal that is up to him as a personal choice OR if a romanian or vegetarian chose to eat halal then that is entirely their own personal choice. Mutual respect for each other is the only way forward.

Kind regards

Tariq Jarral wrote:

Respect each other is the only way forward.

Ten out of ten ... and a gold star.

'Peace, love and understanding' is the only way to live.

Fred wrote:

I found this, but I lost the link.

According to the 2002 Census, there are 67,566 Muslims in Romania constituting 0.3% of the population. Most of the muslims are Romanian Turks and Tatars with a handful of Roma Muslims. 97% of the Muslim population lives in Dobruja while the remaining 3% live mostly in Bucharest. In Dobruja, 5.2% of the population are muslim. (Constanta County - 6.6%, Tulcea County 1.5%) There are 77 - 80 mosques in Romania and 108 Islamic cemetaries.

Assuming that's correct, it leaves a couple of thousand Muslims in Bucharest, probably less.
However, the student population may not be included in those numbers.
Minority population groups tend to cluster, so find out if that's true of Muslims in your area, then go for a walk.
Look at local shops, and ask local Muslims where they shop.

Many thanks Fred and your valued input is highly appreciated. I will explore this market further by visiting Bucharest while enjoying the city break for a weekend maybe. I have some romanian friends here in uk and I intent to go with them in near future. Kind regards.

stumpy wrote:

Tariq Jarral wrote:

I live in UK and wonder where there is enough demand around the year for Pakistani - Indian groceries/ Halal meat demand in Bucharest. I am a shopfitter by trade and wouldn't mind exploring this new market. Please advise me of your experiences. Kind regards.

I suggest that you do some in depth research first, find out numbers of Muslims in Bucharest, where they are mainly based, see if there are any other halal shops in the area and then find out how to go about setting up one yourself.

You would also need to research suppliers of good quality meat.

Many thanks for your reply. You are absolutely right. I will have to visit for few days and evaluate the market.

Really appreciate your imput. Many thanks to all of you to take time out to reply to my post.

momo_79 wrote:

Hi Tariq,
Of course there is Romania is becoming a bigger open market with increasing number of expats a lot of them are muslims .
Halal minimarkets get always a huge interest even from non muslims because of the high quality meat

Many thanks for your encouraging comments. I intent to visit and study the market further. Kind regards.

@tariq

Good luck with your venture and do let the forum know how it all goes...

Hi Tariq,

There are already a few halal butchers/grocers in Romania. In my area I know of four or five, mostly, it seems, catering to the Turkish community. As well as halal lamb, chicken and beef, they also sell dry staples (bulgur, lentils, etc) and some Turkish brand dairy products (white cheese, yoghurt, etc). I visit them from time to time (I used to live in Turkey and occasionally have a craving) and notice that the clientèle are a mixture of Turkish speakers and locals. There are a number of Indian restaurants in town and there is an interest amongst some Romanians in Indian food.

There is a community of Indians/Pakistanis in Bucharest. You might try contacting one of the cricket clubs based in the capital as the majority of their players are originally from the subcontinent - a connection with some of them might give you enough of a focus group to gauge the level of demand for produce (and the type of produce) and the numbers of potential clients.

Another possibility, depending on the location of the store, might be to provide authentic Indian/Pakistani snacks, something like a deli, to tap into the lunchtime office market. A lot of Romanian office workers I know order Chinese food for lunch so maybe there is a gap in the market there too.

Best of luck!

Maykal wrote:

Hi Tariq,

There are already a few halal butchers/grocers in Romania. In my area I know of four or five, mostly, it seems, catering to the Turkish community. As well as halal lamb, chicken and beef, they also sell dry staples (bulgur, lentils, etc) and some Turkish brand dairy products (white cheese, yoghurt, etc). I visit them from time to time (I used to live in Turkey and occasionally have a craving) and notice that the clientèle are a mixture of Turkish speakers and locals. There are a number of Indian restaurants in town and there is an interest amongst some Romanians in Indian food.

There is a community of Indians/Pakistanis in Bucharest. You might try contacting one of the cricket clubs based in the capital as the majority of their players are originally from the subcontinent - a connection with some of them might give you enough of a focus group to gauge the level of demand for produce (and the type of produce) and the numbers of potential clients.

Another possibility, depending on the location of the store, might be to provide authentic Indian/Pakistani snacks, something like a deli, to tap into the lunchtime office market. A lot of Romanian office workers I know order Chinese food for lunch so maybe there is a gap in the market there too.

Best of luck!

Dear Maykal

Many thanks for your valued input and seems very vital information at this stage of my research. I am not limiting myself to just a halal mini market alone as I have vast experiences in alot of different types of business developments. The input from this has been so great that I am feeling the urge to at least visit Bucharest in the coming days to and evaluate things further. I will keep everyone posted on my new findings and progresses.

Kind regards

Hi Tarik,

I have one of these shops in my street and  i think the owner is from Turkey. He is long time there established so I am sure he is doing good. There is an area in Bucharest where you can buy wholesale and as I visited recently I did see a lot of arabic people working there.
Here is on the map one of the places:
https://www.google.ro/maps/place/Dragon … 7f2d?hl=ro
In that area are must live some expats as I saw a lot of chinese and turkish restaurants.

Cheers

Maykal wrote:

Hi Tariq,

There are already a few halal butchers/grocers in Romania. In my area I know of four or five, mostly, it seems, catering to the Turkish community. As well as halal lamb, chicken and beef, they also sell dry staples (bulgur, lentils, etc) and some Turkish brand dairy products (white cheese, yoghurt, etc). I visit them from time to time (I used to live in Turkey and occasionally have a craving) and notice that the clientèle are a mixture of Turkish speakers and locals. There are a number of Indian restaurants in town and there is an interest amongst some Romanians in Indian food.

There is a community of Indians/Pakistanis in Bucharest. You might try contacting one of the cricket clubs based in the capital as the majority of their players are originally from the subcontinent - a connection with some of them might give you enough of a focus group to gauge the level of demand for produce (and the type of produce) and the numbers of potential clients.

Another possibility, depending on the location of the store, might be to provide authentic Indian/Pakistani snacks, something like a deli, to tap into the lunchtime office market. A lot of Romanian office workers I know order Chinese food for lunch so maybe there is a gap in the market there too.

Best of luck!

While I was reading the whole thread the same idea popped into my head but you was the first to reply.

Anyway, good luck with your goal and I like to know how it goes in the future.