VILNIUS — The Baltic resistance to fast food is slowly ending it seems, after the Finnish chain Hesburger announced that they would be opening more outlets in the region in 2010 following good results.

The fast food chain, which opened 10 new locations in 2009, saw a drop in sales over the last year, but did not have to close any locations in any of the three countries.

“In general per-restaurant sales and customer flows are down as compared to earlier years, but we do have some locations that actually improved their indicators. The situation in Estonia is also slightly better than in Lithuania and Latvia. Customers also tend to order cheaper products in the Baltics — something that we don’t observe in our Finnish market, but in general I can’t complain — we have not been forced to close a single location during the downturn,” Hesburger CEO Kari Salmela said.

The company has plans to open three more locations each in Lithuania and Latvia and two more in Estonia.

“It is a good time for that — rent rates are down, while we don’t even have to go out and look for new locations ourselves, only to choose what suits us best from a number of offers provided by property owners and operators on their own initiative,” Salmela said.

Hesburger has 14 restaurants in Lithuania, 20 in Latvia and 21 in Estonia, 12 of which are in Tallinn. The chain has outlets in most major cities in the region.

Other fast food chains have slowly pried open the Baltic market with consumers suspicious of the foreign businesses. Fast food is relatively expensive compared to local options.

The Finnish company operates in five countries including Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.