Benzina, the largest network of fuel filling stations in the Czech Republic, opened the first outlet in Slovakia in April and is preparing to open more stations soon. “We are glad that the Antimonopoly office of Slovakia and the Federal Competition Authority of Austria issued a positive opinion, so nothing prevents our plan to open these stations during the October. Negotiations to take over other stations are in full swing. Over time, we want to have our stations distributed throughout Slovakia,” said Tomasz Wiatrak, CEO of the Unipetrol Group.
Holice near Dunajská Streda, Lužianky near Nitra, Šelpice near Trnava, Šurany near Nové Zámky, Tesárske Mlyňany near Zlaté Moravce, Senec and Strečno – these stations will Benzina open this year during October. Just like the first Benzina station in Malacky, the new stations will be renovated outlets acquired from their current operator. “It is our strategic objective to build as wide a network of filling stations as possible. At first, we focused on the talks regarding leases or takeovers of the existing stations, but in the future, we also plan to build brand new ones, including self-service stations,” Tomasz Wiatrak explained, adding: “There is a great interest in cooperation with us among gas station operators in Slovakia. We are now approaching the number of ten stations in 2019, which we expected when entering the market earlier this year. But still, we want to emphasise that adherence to the planned business model and top service for customers is more important for us than a high pace of development.”
“Our first filling station in Malacky has been in operation for only five months and the volume of fuels sold keeps growing. It is evident that our additivated fuels, Efecta 95 and Efecta Diesel, with a purifying effect on the engine, as well as premium fuels, Verva 100 and Verva Diesel, have quickly become popular with Slovak customers and have won their confidence. We have now expanded our offer with fast food services operated under the Stop Cafe brand. Customers can be looking forward to excellent coffee mixed according to the original recipe in Belgium, and variations of the popular hotdog. We will offer the same high standard of quality and product selection as in the Czech Republic where we have seen a more than 50% rise in the sale of supplementary goods, and the sales of refreshments even increased by 300%,” Marek Zouvala, Director of the Benzina network, concluded.
Benzina came back to Slovakia after 15 years. The brand alone was born in the then Czechoslovakia in 1958. During the privatisation process after 1989, Benzina was transferred to private owners and temporarily lost the right to use the brand on the Slovak market. Benzina is now returning to Slovakia as a leader on the Czech market where it runs the widest network of 413 filling stations and controls one fourth of the market by volume of fuels sold.