It’s certainly international: a Singapore-based investment company running cafes in Russia – one within a Turkish-owned shopping center and the other in Moscow’s city center. But, at Delifrance’s two establishments, the style remains all French.

Delifrance has been catering to Moscow trendies since 1996 – opening first inside the Tchaikovsky hall at Mayakovskaya and last year at the Ramstore shopping center on Sheremetyevskaya Ulitsa. Together, they feed about 1,900 customers a day and employ a staff of 55.

Delifrance is part of the global franchising phenomenon – a business formula that allows investors to make money with well-known trademarks that have successful financial track records.

In Russia, the owners of Delifrance say the formula has worked so well that two more stores will open before the end of next year. The focus will remain on Moscow for now, but other areas may be selected later, executives say.

The Delifrance franchise for Moscow and St. Petersburg is controlled by the Singapore-based Acma investment group, which secured the rights from Grands Moulins de Paris, a French concern and Europe’s second largest flour miller.

Twenty years after Delifrance began baking – in Holland –there’s a round-the-world network of similar restaurants in the Netherlands, Britain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Canada, the United States, South Africa and Lebanon. France, ironically, is not on the list – in deference to Grands Moulins’ dominant position as a supplier of flour products throughout its domestic market.

With its sucess in Russia, Acma is pushing to extend the brand’s reach — welcoming inquiries from entrepreneurs who see the franchise as an opportunity to start their own business and who can front the $350,000 required to get a Delifrance going.

The food business took Acma into a new, so-far lucrative and comparatively "safe" cash market, contrasting with its earlier exposures in trading, computers and electronics. Today, the group holds the lease on the entire retailing area inside the Mayakovskaya concert hall, where it also operates the Haagen Dazs, Coffee Club, Chef Pizza, It’s Sushi, and Asian Kitchen outlets, as well as the central bar. Acma also holds the franchise license on Moscow’s Pizza Hut restaurant and soon-to-be-opened Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet.

Delifrance set up shop in the heady days of Russia’s economic boom. Business peaked in eight months, between June 1997 and August the following year, when some 2,200 customers a day were being served at Mayakovskaya.

Then the bubble burst in the 1998 meltdown. Short-lived panic set in, recalled Acma Director David Gan. "Pricing was the problem because our products are imported," he said.

"We held prices steady for two weeks and customer numbers dropped, though not significantly. Over the next four months, we increased prices, but not fully reflecting the currency’s fall. We didn’t want to lose our customers, and we have a long-term commitment to Russia. We’re still profitable today, but not so much as before. We’ve had to adapt to circumstances," said Gan, who added that prices have remained the same for more than a year.

Business reached its lowest point between January and June 1999, but a cycle of price and marketing promotions has brought gradual improvement, he said, citing free Valentine’s Day roses, flowers on International Women’s Day and free dinner for 300 military veterans to mark Victory Day. The core customer base has remained solid, executives say, at 65 percent female, 35 percent male with an age range of 20 to 45.

Acma has also introduced a discount card, with about 3,500 signed up for the 20 percent price reductions from their bills at Delifrance and its other shops.

Delifrance imports its products by refrigerated truck directly from Lille, in northern France – a trip of roughly five to seven days. Cakes and pastries come frozen and then are reheated on site. Baguettes are prepared locally. The wine, of course, is French.

The Delifrance outlet at Ramstore has seen steadily increasing sales since it opened. According to industry observers, this reflects a growing trend: Muscovites are traveling in increasing numbers to large shopping malls outside the city center for their shopping.

"It’s part of lifestyle for people to convene in supermarkets," Gan said. The trend has led to 11 independent cuisine "concepts" to take space at the third-floor Ramstore food court. Their collective experience demonstrates the wisdom of being at such highly frequented locations, Gan added.

Currently, Acma is searching for two new high-traffic, close-to-metro sites of around 240 sq. meters each, said officials, who added that the company is "willing to negotiate" with prospective new franchisees to build the brand further.

Acma said it would provide investors with essential support to help set standards and maintain the consistent brand identity.

That support would include working with a new investor to review and approve the location, help with designing the kitchen, restaurant and display counters, organizing pre-opening training and central sourcing of the food range.