ZAANDAM, the Netherlands — Ahold Delhaize said Wednesday that it is opening a new new tech studio in Bucharest called AD/01. The company expects to staff the studio with about 250 tech employees who will work on innovations aimed at providing an improved customer experience at Ahold Delhaize’s European brands.

“Our great local brands strive to create the leading local food shopping experience,” says Wouter Kolk, CEO of Ahold Delhaize Europe & Indonesia. “As part of our tech ambitions, we focus on providing seamless digitally enabled experiences, whether in-store down the aisles, at the checkouts, or behind the scenes. With the evolving needs of our customers come new challenges, which is why we are creating AD/01. This tech studio will bring together sharp minds to develop innovations that serve people today and tomorrow and serve all our European brands. In doing so we are also investing in the Romanian market, where we already operate through our local brand Mega Image.”

AD/01 will play a pivotal role in strengthening Ahold Delhaize’s capabilities as part of its digital, data and tech ecosystem, according to the company. The teams will work on a wide range of topics, from web and app development to joining and initiating strategic projects in the areas of eCommerce, Infra, Data, Loyalty, Core Retail and beyond.

Ahold Delhaize says that its AD/01 studio will aim to foster a vibrant inclusive engineering culture. The first talents are currently coming on board, the company said, adding that the plan is to have around 250 top tech talents involved in this tech studio within the next few years. Recruiting activities for the tech studio will further solidify in the coming period and are primarily focused on the Romanian market which has one of the largest pools of skillful tech talent in Europe.