Gourmet Fruits is growing twice as fast as the market

Gourmet Fruits is a category manager dedicated to the major supermarket chains in Qatar. Nineteen Al Meera and Geant hypermarkets are exclusively supplied and merchandised with more than 500 daily items. “We supply a lot of airfreighted specialty exotics, fresh cut salads, tomatoes and berries at a very competitive price,” said Ehab Abou Karroum, managing director of Gourmet Fruits.

It also supplies Carrefour, Lulu and Monoprix hypermarkets, among others, as well as the food service branch of several institutions and public companies such as the Hamad hospital and the Qatari GAZ Group.

Gourmet Fruits’ logistics centre is strategically located in the industrial area of the capital city, Doha. “Most of the hypermarkets and supermarkets in Qatar are strategically located in shopping centres in order to achieve successful food retail,” said Karroum. Qatar has 10 large shopping centres in the country.

Daily direct supplies of exotics and organics

Gourmet Fruits employs 300 workers, distributes more than 35,000 tons and generates about €60 million in turnover. A fleet of 35 trucks is used for daily delivery to shops. “Our activity is rapidly expanding by 20-25% per year, while we are seeing market growth in the retail sector of about 10% annually,” reports Karroum.

The company keeps growing twice as fast as the market by maintaining the core values that have been intrinsic to its development, namely providing a wide range of quality produce, guaranteeing dependable, punctual delivery and, most importantly, listening to, understanding and meeting the needs of end customers.

“Our continuous efforts towards building and expanding relationships with our suppliers and growers have enabled us to offer a range of exotic and organic products from around the globe for our elite customers. We feel that part of our ethical obligation to secure the flow of food to our beloved Qatar is achieved by securing dependable sources of suppliers,” Karroum said.

PE

This interview first appeared on page 47 of edition 139 (Sept/Oct 2015) of Eurofresh Distribution magazine. Read more of that issue online by clicking on the image of it here: