Soft drink company Kofola opens first Prague restaurant

The soft drink company Kofola this week opened its first brand restaurant in the Czech capital, NaGrilu. As the name implies, the venues will offer dishes off the grill, as well as beverages by the company as well as fresh fruit and vegetable juice from UGO and Mangaloo. While it offers fast food, it will apparently be with a difference: an emphasis on healthy and fresh ingredients.

Photo: archive of Kofola

Kofola has taken its brand to the next level with the opening on Tuesday of NaGrilu, its first brand restaurant, in the centre of the Czech capital. If successful, the flagship venue should pave the way for dozens of more to follow, using a franchise model. Venues could range from similar-styled restaurants to smaller stops, such as shopping mall kiosks or corners, Kofola’s spokesman Jaroslava Musilová confirmed for news website iDnes.

According to the website, the company has received input from a well-known expert who in the past helped successfully introduce chains like KFC or Starbucks onto the Czech market, while the restaurant will be run by a team close to businessman Marek Farník, off whom Kofola bought the UGO brand chain in 2013. That venture was important, the company made clear, giving them a better understanding of the fresh drinks market as well as customer needs. Kofola CEO Jannis Samaras said that in order for the firm to grow, it was necessary for the company to look well into the future. NaGrilu, as a pilot or flagship project, made clear, had a large part to play in that.

For consumers, the new brand restaurant should offer quality fast food where the most expensive offer of soup, the main course, desert and drink will cost to 149 crowns, iDnes reported. Six offers will be available daily. Customers will be able to watch their meal being prepared, the news site added – a departure from traditional restaurants where food preparation takes place behind closed doors.