A Nebraska-based fast-food restaurant with Russian roots has
taken a step toward doing business in the Soviet republic of
Latvia, the company president said Tuesday.
Runza Drive-Inns of America has signed an intent-to-do-business
contract with a Latvian collective farm and ConAgra Inc., an
Omaha-based diversified food company, said Runza President Donald
Everett.
His mother, Sally Everett, developed Runza's mixture of ground
beef, cabbage, onions and spices based on family recipes. Family
ancestors were Germans who emigrated to Russia and later to the
United States.
The collective farm, Agrofirm Adazhi, will produce all the food
for the restaurant and a van equipped with a kitchen will travel
from the farm to Riga, Latvia, where it will do business, Everett
said. Riga is located on the Baltic Sea.
ConAgra will serve as backup if the farm fails to produce enough
beef, Everett said in a telephone interview from Runza's
headquarters in Lincoln.
Some roadblocks remain to building the business, including
obtaining permission from the Soviet Union for Runza to locate in
Riga, Everett said. Soviet law also requires profits earned in
rubles to remain in the Soviet economy, which reduces foreign
company's profits, he said.
That problem may be solved by having Runza purchase produce from
the collective farm and sell it outside the country, Everett
said.
Agrofirm has about 30,000 acres and employs about 3,500 people,
for whom it provides housing, schooling and food, Everett said. The
collective farm is located about 20 miles outside Riga, he
said.
In February 1989, Everett met with Soviet officials to discuss
the potential of opening a Runza Drive-Inn in Moscow. The latest
discussions have centered on Riga.
Everett said when he first visited the Soviet Union he
discovered the food there wasn't very good.
"They just don't know what good food is and they don't have
access to it," Everett said.
Runza has 19 company-owned outlets and 28 franchise operations
in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Nevada and Colorado.
