Harmati Gábor: Utasellátó 60 (Budapest, 2009)

Changes and sccesses 140 new shops were opened and another 70 shops were modernized in a short time. The remarkable achievements were also internationally acknowledged: a contract was singed on the cooperation of operating sleeping and restaurant cars; this contract was signed by catering-related companies in several countries in 1971. Leaders of the contracting companies formed the Board of Trustees, presided by László Tóth, Director General of Catering Company at that time. The company managed to build and maintain cooperation with around 40 foreign partner companies and it was in contact with about 100 delivering companies. The chain of shops trading in foreign currency soon became a booming branch of the company. While the company had only three shops where clients could pay in foreign currencies in 1982, their number multiplied within a decade and the chain had almost fifty shops at the end of the 1980's. The chain recorded a turnover of several million dollars. Catering Company faced new difficulties in the late 1970's. The "act of prohibition in the morning" was introduced on 1 January 1978, selling alcoholic beverages was then forbidden from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., which meant a loss of turnover. This loss could have been compensated but other problems emerged, too. Changes in price in 1979 and 1980 also made measures inevitable. The use of semi-prepared, refrigerated and canned food became widespread in Catering Company kitchens, which meant that work and production in the kitchen became 96. Shop trading in foreign currencies and its personnel, the early 1 990 s more efficient. Several snack bars and other new facilities, like milk bars or snack bars selling soft drinks were opened. The number of cars to provide mobile service on railway lines was growing, mainly due to the new service introduced in 1979. Thirty couchettes were operated and twenty sleeping cars were replaced. 49 unprofitable kiosks