After having tasted the salted sticks baked by his mother-in-law, a young engineer from Hunedoara decided to start manufacturing them. He established Carmex, a company that now produces and sells salted sticks throughout the country.
Pompiliu Tanasescu is a 34-year old mining engineer. Five years ago, he was going through a tough period, when everything was upside-down.
"Those were hard times, when I thought I was doomed to the worst in life," the young owner recollects. That was the moment when he decided to focus his small business on food production and to make the small round crisps.
But he proceeded just opposite to the Japanese, for instance. He devised all the equipment he needed in two months and then worked to build it for another year.
The engineer designed a very simple technological line in order to avoid a large investment and having 250 million lei he managed to assemble the equipment and build the oven.
His uncle loaned him some money and he built the machinery with the help of several friends.
After two years of activity, Pompiliu Tanasescu sold all his equipment, as he had devised better machines. "Unfortunately, I didn't realise that I was selling my entire business by selling that equipment. I offered the whole outlet to the buyer, so I had to start all over," he recollects.
After he finished building the second range of equipment, Tanasescu resumed the cheese stick production and now he delivers them in several towns. The products made in a small hall located in the entrepreneur's yard are sold in Sibiu, Fagaras, Brasov, Ploiesti, Bucharest, Giurgiu, Craiova, Targu-Jiu, Timisoara and across Hunedoara county.
The salt sticks made in Hunedoara are delivered to the retail and distribution companies. At the beginning, in 1996, the products were called Vacanta Mare ("Summer Holiday"), which is also the name of a well-known comedy group.
"I did not mean to plagiarise the name of "Vacanta Mare" comedy group, which was also at the beginning of its activity. I only wanted this name to address an exact market target: children, pupils, students," the producer says.
Pompiliu Tanasescu, a former faculty mate of Radu Pietreanu, a member of "Vacanta Mare" group, last autumn changed the name of his products as he did not want to have troubles related to using a name of a comedy group having become so famous in the meanwhile. His products are now called Holiday, which preserves the same message.
The 12 employees of SC Carmex work in two shifts, although the technological stream may ensure continuous functioning. The small plant has a capacity of 400-500 kilos of sticks daily, but some fluctuations emerge due to the market's evolution.
Except for January, July and August, the production is continuous. The company registered 500 million lei in turnover last year, while its last month production stood for about one half of the volume posted last year.
Pompiliu Tanasescu admits he wouldn't have succeeded without the support of his family. "My wife, who is a teacher, gave me the time I needed to deal with the business.
She takes care of our three children and always accepted the financial sacrifices we had to do. I had nothing more than the courage to enter the entrepreneurial world," Pompiliu Tanasescu said.
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