• Bogdan Oprisor – ""In a product, it's not just about the recipe: it's about emotions, it's about familiarity, it's about everything that goes together with the product."
• Mirela Cată – ""The details are very important. The balance that we bring to the product, to the recipe, through the taste, through the textures, through the appearance is very important."
• Interview conducted within the project "From the Oven, into the Future" – a podcast created by Puratos out of the desire to bring to the forefront the people and businesses that develop the bakery and confectionery industry in Romania.
Bogdan Oprișor, the new CEO of Ana Pan Romania, took over the management of the company in November 2025, bringing with him over 15 years of solid experience in commercial strategy, category management and the development of modern food retail concepts, accumulated at leading companies in the Romanian business landscape. It is the engine of the modernization and strategic development of the brand.
Mirela Cață, Innovation Manager Ana Pan and Pastry Chef Instructor at ICEP, with over 35 years of experience in the field, is the one who brings inspiration, technique and innovation to Ana Pan's recipes and products.
Together, they represent the bridge between Ana Pan's over 35-year tradition and its vision for the future, demonstrating how an emblematic Romanian brand reinvents itself while keeping its essence intact.
1. Many of us have memories of a particular taste that instantly transports us back to our childhood. What is this taste for you and what memories come back to you most strongly associated with it?
Bogdan: There are two essential moments when I think about my childhood: a confectionery and a pastry shop. I grew up in Bucharest and the pastry shop I remember most fondly is the one at Piața Victoriei, in the alley, at the crossing between the two directions. Around 95 or 96, I used to pass by there every day. And I still remember the smell of the merdenele, apple strudel, chocolate croissants. They were incredibly good!
The second memory that is very clearly imprinted in my memory is "the confectionery" from home, from mom. Because these are the first and most intense tastes you remember. I still remember mom's recipes snow white and biscuit salami. They weren't made every weekend, they were for special occasions, but they were so good... And I think that's what formed the idea in me, over time, that in a product it's not just about the recipe: it's about emotions, it's about familiarity, it's about everything that goes together with the product.
Mirela: For me, the important memories are around family and what we used to make together at home, specifically cakes and lots of pies. I come from the Constanta area, and this area is famous for the Dobrogean pie.
And I remember very clearly from my childhood how I would stand in endless lines at the pie oven, in the holiday village. Few people remember that now. There was an open space where the pastry chefs would make that Romanian sheet pie, with the traditional sheet spinning above their heads. And you would sit there for hours, admiring how the pastry chefs worked, admiring their craftsmanship and that smell would envelop you, because you couldn't wait for your turn to grab a slice and enjoy it.
I grew up with pies, because my mother often made this dish. On New Year's Eve, we made the pie with fortune-telling, and we children couldn't wait for it to be on the table. Hidden in the cheese filling, wrapped in foil, were all kinds of fortune-telling with wishes for the new year, some really funny, but also pennies. Whoever caught a penny had luck and money all year. That was the tradition! These are the most vivid memories and probably how my passion for confectionery and pastry began to be born.
2. Every leader has their own path that prepares them for future challenges. Bogdan, you came to Ana Pan from a solid career in modern retail and digital transformation. What attracted you to take over the leadership of Ana Pan? When was the moment you felt you could significantly contribute to the evolution of this iconic brand?
Bogdan: Many things attracted me to this new experience from the start. I think the most important thing would be the brand. Because Ana Pan is an authentic Romanian brand. It has been on the market for 35 years and it has not only survived, but also evolved, transformed in those 35 years. It is a very good local business, with a lot of experience. And this is one of the first things that attracted me.
A second thing that I think attracted me a lot is the potential of the brand, the potential of the business, together with the potential of the team I am part of. And here we are talking about a potential to expand the current areas, not only confectionery and pastry, but we are also talking about fresh food, we are talking about ready-to-eat, we are talking about products to offer to customers to attract them and meet their current needs, which are constantly changing, from what we observe.
And, last but not least, what really attracted me was the discussion with Alexandra Copos. It wasn't a discussion in which she convinced me. It was a discussion in which I saw very clearly her vision and how clearly she sees the future of Ana Pan, but also her energy, energy that I also see in my colleagues today and I see in her every day. It's a positive energy that drives you to do more, to build. And I think this was a good fit between us from the start: we had the same idea and the same vision regarding what Ana Pan should look like in the future.
Mirela: In my case, before Ana Pan I worked in Constanța, where I coordinated the activity of a laboratory. And signals were constantly coming through the suppliers of ingredients, through consumers, regarding the exceptional quality of the products marketed by those at Ana Pan. And then, whenever I had the opportunity to come to Bucharest, I would stand in those endless lines, we are talking about the 90s, and I would buy cakes to go home to Constanța and together with the team to analyze them to see what they contain and how they are made. Then I would receive signals that they are very attentive to the teams and that they care a lot about the people who work there. And slowly, slowly the idea sprouted that it is a place where I want to go, it is a higher level that I want to reach. And somehow, at a certain point, the stars aligned, I submitted my CV on a recruitment platform and I was called by Cristina, who is still a colleague with us and thanks to whom I also have the blonde strand. (Because he confessed to me that it was the reason why he liked me when I first appeared!) The point is that I managed to convince him and that I have stayed with Ana Pan ever since and I love being here. It suited me "glove": for me it is important to be able to identify with the product and the business direction so that I can be creative and do things well.
3. Ana Pan products have managed over time to combine artisanal craftsmanship with today's consumer expectations. What makes Ana Pan products special today? Mirela, as an innovation manager, what elements do you add to make a product truly remarkable?
Mirela: As a rule, details are very important. The balance that we bring to the product, to the recipe, through taste, through textures, through appearance is very important. We work a lot on classic and traditional products that we reinterpret. Being a brand that has been on the market for so many years, we have customers who have known us for many years and who are nostalgic and loyal to these products.
But we have to come up with new things every time, because these people change their preferences over the years. And then every time we come and reinvent these products to meet their needs. And of course we are always attentive to the experience that the products bring beyond innovation in taste, and here I am referring to the customer experience in the store, to the experience of our colleagues in production, but also of those who sell in the store.
4. Tastes and consumption habits are changing rapidly, and brands must anticipate these changes. How have you, at a brand level, perceived the evolution of Romanian consumers' preferences in recent years? What do they want now from their favorite product?
Bogdan: It would be a little arrogant of me to say that I know what they want… We are always trying to find out what they want, testing to see if what we think they want matches their preferences and needs.
I think that today, more than ever, we live in a world where tastes and needs are polarizing. On the one hand, we are talking about everyday needs: breakfast, lunch, at a fair price. Then, we are talking about moments of pampering, which are increasingly rare, but are very important for our customers.
There is, on the other hand, an increasing demand from our customers. In recent years, from what I have observed, you are no longer allowed to make mistakes. Or any mistake that a brand makes is taxed much more harshly. Because, in the end, it is not something exaggerated on the part of customers, but they want a certain quality and certain services for the price they pay. And, then, we have to meet their expectations, not ours. And this is important.
And in the last 9 months, 12 months, we've seen a contraction in the market, unfortunately, and we've seen an increasing need to save money, to be careful about what you spend and what you spend it on. And that's why I say that the moments of indulgence that I was talking about earlier are becoming rarer and rarer, but still very important.
5. How does Ana Pan balance tradition with new market demands?
Bogdan: A very good question! It's a daily job, because we shouldn't confuse tradition with rigidity. At the same time, it doesn't make sense to make a change just for the sake of change. I think it's important – and we're still trying to find the magic solution, which I don't think exists – to maintain our DNA and the backbone of our brand and to have a clear positioning in the market, both for ourselves and for our customers. Because once we are clear about who we are and why we are like this, it will be easier for the customer to identify the brand. But it's a continuous job that we do every day.
6. Taking over a brand like Ana Pan and preparing it for the next 10-15 years involves both respect for roots, for tradition, and the courage to transform. Bogdan, what are the main development directions you see for Ana Pan for, let's say, 2030?
Bogdan: Exponential growth! I say this every day and I tell my colleagues. And here Alexandra and I agree. What do we want? In the short term, we want to consolidate the current business. And I think that this year is a very good time not only for us, but also for other businesses to build a very good foundation for the future. And that as long as we realize what the main needs of the customers are – because we always have to start from the customer – and what we can offer them. Again, not by going in all directions, because once you have a clear positioning, it means that you also give up certain things.
But once you have those, it's much easier, for 2027-2028, to build exponentially. I really believe, and I tell my colleagues this every week, I really believe in the idea that it's not a sprint, it's a marathon, and we are the Kenyans at the front. And then, we have to constantly reach the maximum level of operational excellence, to grow every day and develop a little bit every day.
Where do I see Ana Pan in 2030? Development in both business areas that we have! On the one hand, increasing the number of locations. And today we are also working on an agent model, an entrepreneurship model, for people with initiative and for people who really want to build with us. And I am sure that there are people who today would like to own the Ana Pan brand. On the other hand, we will continue to build with the partners we have in retail, with whom we have been building for more than 10 years until now.
7. Mirela, what role does product innovation play in this transformation that Bogdan is talking about?
Mirela: Innovation is very important, because we need to innovate quickly, to quickly understand what our customers' needs are, but also to maintain our tradition, our authenticity while coming up with new elements, adapted to the needs of consumers at the moment and the daily changes that occur in their preferences.
8. What were the biggest impediments in adapting the business with history to the realities of modern retail?
Bogdan: Considering that I've only been in the company for six months, I can't say that there were any impediments, but what is clear to me is that along with the business, we also have to change. And here are two, three essential things that I'm trying to change in myself and learn certain lessons that I need to learn and later pass on to the people in the team. An important aspect is the fact that we need simplification and not just simplification in processes, but simplification in decisions, as Mirela said earlier.
For example, when we have several products that we want to list, it doesn't make sense to spend many days trying to make decisions based on certain criteria or certain sensations or certain scenarios. Let's test them! We put them in the store and I think the best result is the one given by the customer: that's how we see if it works or not. On some clear parameters! Again, the data must confirm or refute the assumptions we make.
Another thing that I think is important is to somehow transform this idea of a mistake into an iteration. And why do I say that? It's important to have success and that success comes as quickly as possible, and I think an important formula is to see mistakes as iterations. The difference between the two is that after each iteration you look at what happened, what didn't work, and you change things a little bit. And the more often and faster you do that, the faster you'll get to a winning formula.
Lastly, a lesson I'm trying to learn this year or a habit that I'm trying to build, is to use the data area a lot, but combined with the area of commercial instinct and expertise. We have a lot of experts in the teams and here I can even give a practical example, also in the innovation area. When we have meetings, we're always looking at how much we should price the product, what customers would buy it and so on. These are questions that we ask constantly. But instead of starting with the data and what margin should be on that product or what brief I had for product X, I ask two questions. The first is: "How much would you buy it for? There are 10-12 of us in this meeting every time, and I think it's important to use our commercial instincts, because at the end of the day, we are customers too. And the second question is: "If we went to a festival or a fair, would you take this product with you or not?" Because here too, decisions become simpler if it is "bright yes" or nu.
9. In this short time that you've been at Ana Pan, is there any product that you're proud of, perhaps one of the recently launched ones? We were talking earlier about a product...
I would tell you: the products we have on the table today! We are going to list cherry basket which I am very proud of. We are also talking about the strawberry and rhubarb sponge cake which I recently listed again. In fact, this year I also discovered what rhubarb looks like, how to prepare it.
There are a lot of products. For example, Ana Pan's cozonacs are very good and I am very proud of what our team manages to do every time. And in the area of marcenici, I really think we have the best marcenici in Bucharest. In general, the confectionery area is very good: savarins, amandines, cremșnit... traditional products.
Our products have a reinterpreted tradition base. But we had, for example, the chocolate cake or the pistachio cake, which were very good, but they are seasonal products. We don't keep them all year round. We now have cinnamon, which I recommend. It's very good. It's a recipe for cinnamon rolls, but reinterpreted based on our traditional recipes. And we have other products that are about to enter the portfolio.
We are constantly innovating and we are also going to have a summer range that we are working on and which I am very proud of. Proud of my team, not proud of me! Proud of my team, what they managed to do and what things they managed to create.
Mirela: In my case, bringing my input to each of Ana Pan's products, I consider them all my children. But I am most proud when a product that I create with my colleagues manages to quickly become a favorite of our customers, of the people who walk through our stores. For me, this is a sign that we have created something that matters to them, not just for the sake of innovation and the sake of creation, or just because I had an idea that seemed extraordinary to me. I like our products and, as I said earlier, I identify with them.
We always try to become relevant through the authenticity of our products, reinterpreting not only traditional products, but also classic products. Because if we are talking about a red velvet, this is not a traditional product, but it is a classic, universally known product. And we try to do it as well as possible, in such a way as to awaken emotions and memories, pleasant moments for our customers.
Bogdan: I'll give two or three more examples, because while Mirela was talking, I realized that I had focused only on a certain range, on pastries and confectionery, but I would like to repeat the fact that we have a new range of fresh food. We are talking about salads that will be added to our assortment shortly. We are talking about ube, in the area of drinks: ice latte, ube, matcha. We try to take on certain trends, the goal being not to go all out, but we try to identify what we think could be sticking to the wall.
10. What does a collaboration between Bogdan's strategic vision and Mirela's creativity look like in the innovation process? How do you collaborate, more specifically?
Mirela: In general, I am a person who can collaborate well with anyone, but I enjoy working with Bogdan and I am not saying this because he is present, but because the vision and strategy that he came up with I feel that it clearly delimits my needs to understand the product, to understand who we are addressing, at what moments we are addressing and that is very important. Because as I said earlier, we do not innovate just for the sake of innovation but we need to be recognized. People have to like what we do and it is important in this sense to combine discipline with the creative side.
Bogdan: I always try to come up with as clear details as possible about what we think the client needs. My belief is that innovation without structure is just an idea and remains at the idea stage. At the same time, strategy without innovation leads nowhere. I think it's a very good combination and I really like the way not only Mirela and I collaborate but the entire team, because we're talking about a sales, operations, production team, there are a lot of people at the table at each innovation meeting and after just an hour we manage to implement ideas, taste products and come up with feedback-s. What I'm trying to come up with is this idea of speed of implementation, of testing as quickly as possible, not getting stuck in certain products or ideas just because we like them. Any idea is good until it's not, any product is good until, maybe, it's not.
Mirela: What I like is that Bogdan manages to simplify things a lot. First of all, he understood the business and the products very quickly – especially since he loves to eat them – helping us simplify the processes, because the creative person sometimes tends to get into all kinds of details and minutiae, which may not necessarily be relevant at a given moment.
11. Finally, if you had to give one piece of advice to a Romanian brand with tradition that wants to remain relevant for the coming years, what would it be?
Bogdan: I think the first piece of advice I would give would be that AI still doesn't know how to knead, but it can help you a lot in other areas and here the experience I had in the digital area helped me a lot to understand where we can streamline and where we can automate certain processes or certain actions. Or where we can even eliminate them. Here we return to simplification, an area that matters a lot to me.
I think a second piece of advice I would give would be to not confuse tradition with rigidity. Yes, it's great to figure out what your DNA is and where your brand essence lies, but with the way the world is moving these days, you as a brand need to move just as fast and choose your battles. And I think that's where the third piece of advice comes in: how to choose your battles. It's really important to know what you're focusing on and what you're not, and once you've chosen your battles, try to move as fast as you can, even if it means breaking a few glasses here and there, but move fast!
And lastly – and with that I conclude – the team matters a lot! You can’t do all this alone. It’s very important to have a very good team by your side. I am happy with all the people I have around me, who, after all, are the ones who have built the brand for 35 years. So choose your team very carefully and stick to the people you consider valuable!
Mirela: When it comes to product, you should never stop researching, looking for solutions, finding out things and learning. It is very important to be up to date all the time, to be able to intervene quickly and efficiently, to meet the needs of customers and I believe that stopping creating products, saying that is enough, represents the biggest risk for a business in the field.
Interview conducted by Gabriela Dan, Editor-in-Chief of Arta Albă
Read on White Art and: Interview with Mirela Cață - "Work until you no longer need to introduce yourself."
