DC Holding, the company in charge of Double Coffee's Latvia operations, said it would have to revise its development plan, cutting back onexpansions and possibly even closing existing restaurants. The company hasalready been forced to put its Lithuanian expansion plans on hold.
Double Coffee Restaurant Executive Director Ineta Sumskiha said that thecompany will focus on improving operations and results from the chain'sexisting restaurants.
"We cannot open new and new restaurants," she said.
"As other companies we are also analyzing economicindicators and development plans are suspended for some time, while the economyis slowing down. We do not assume it possible that restaurants might stop theiroperations or expansion," she said.
The executive director also noted that the company has astrong brand name, and has been able to win a secure place in the market sinceit opened in 2002. However, plans to open a restaurant in Panorama Plaza, a massive shopping centerthat is still under construction, will have to be delayed.
"Construction of this project has been delayed due to economic reasons,therefore it is planned that the restaurant and the shopping center will beopened in April. I hope the country's economy will have recovered by thattime," she said.
Double Coffee had previously decided to suspend its expansion in Lithuania and will close down two of its Vilnius locations.
According to the company's Web site, there are 21 Double Coffee outlets in Latvia,eight in Lithuania,five in Estonia and five in Ukraine and one in Belarus.The company plans to increase the number of its cafes to 100 within five years.
DC Restorani, the owner of Double Coffee, last year posted 5.229 millionlats (7.44 million) in turnover, up 3.4 times from 2006. This year, thecompany's turnover is 15 percent smaller than in 2007.
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