CBA (food retail)

CBA is a Hungarian supermarket chain with almost 5,200 stores. It operates in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.^[1]

CBA Kereskedelmi Kft.

Company type	Private
Founded	1992; 33 years ago (1992)
Headquarters	Alsónémedi Hungary
Key people	Founder and President: Martin Kondovi CEO: Petar Pavlenkov
Products	Grocery general merchandise
Number of employees	30,000
Website	cba.hu

Countries with CBA stores

Figrad CBA store in the town center of Crvenka, Serbia

There were 134 stores in Hungary in February 2018.

Most CBA stores have grill bars, bakeries, butcher's and wine shops. A discount store is also available (CBA Cent) and a hypermarket (Príma).

History

In 1992, CBA was formed of 17 grocery stores from 10 private owners in Hungary. Stores elsewhere in the country were only opened years later. In 1998, 80% of CBA stores were outside Budapest. Because of difficulties with delivering, CBA opened regional headquarters. In 2005, CBA opened its first logistic center in Alsónémedi. From that year, CBA became a franchise system.^[2]

Kasszás Erzsi and Icuka

During 2017, CBA released a commercial in Hungary featuring Kasszás Erzsi (Cashier Erzsi) (played by Andrea Balázs), a woman who works as a cashier. In the commercial, Erzsi sang about working in CBA. She appeared in every commercial until 2018 and became so famous that CBA made a tour with her around the country. Fans could meet Erzsi in selected CBA stores. In 2018, Erzsi was replaced by Icuka, a shop manager (Szilvia Bach) who sings in rap.