Commenting on Bakemart’s future expansion plans, Khaleel said: “We are also planning to open a production facility in Oman in Muscat. We are also very seriously looking in the Saudi market, so we plan to be present throughout the region in the next couple of years. Oman will open this year, and Saudi might be end of this year or beginning next year.”

The company also launched its new line of bread and baked goods called World of Artisan Breads at Gulfood, which features 25 new products, including organic bread, gluten-free baked items, and sugar-free pastries.

“The demand for artisan is increasing in the region; in the US and Europe it’s very common. People want something different, and I am sure the artisan range will be very successful here,” Khaleel added.

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Speaking about companies looking at increasing their footprint in the market, Solico is a family-owned business based out of Dubai with manufacturing operations in Iran, Iraq, Egypt, among other operations further afield.

Solico Group regional sales director foodservice & industrial GCC Mat Baker told Caterer Middle East: “The business historically has been focused in the Northern Gulf and CIS regions. But there’s a new focus now — and part of the reason why we’re here at Gulfood — to look at the opportunity of bringing the products and the Solico name into the GCC and the North Africa region.”

 ----Read more from the extensive Gulfood report in the March 2015 issue of Caterer Middle East-----

The range of products offered is very broad, but the core business is dairy. Baker added: “In the Gulf, where there are a lot of reconstituted products, our natural production comes through the product. It really has that richness and depth of dairy that you associate more with European or Australasian brands, than those produced in this region.”

Ranges Baker revealed he thought would be most popular included the natural cheese range, chocolate products, and confectionery cream. He said: “We will look to establish the cheese, the chocolate and confectionery cream businesses, get chefs to try them, get their feedback and show them Iranian-sourced dairy products have got something to add to the market, and use that as a platform to talk about the other range.”

He noted: “We have our own distribution within the UAE so we are able to fulfil requirements already; we are talking to one or two other specialist distributors as well to look to have a better route to market.”

Baker stressed it was crucial that the company offers a quality product, a price point and value proposition that gives it a reason to be in the market.

“We believe that on our core product offering, we will offer significantly better quality than most of the local suppliers and at a comparable price.

The supply chain is shorter, the product is fresher, and the cost of sourcing is competitive. Obviously the fact that it is regional has some benefits with the local chef community looking to be greener with the supply chain. But in the end we’re being realistic about the hard commercial drivers as well.”

UAE-based Sparrow International also re-affirmed its plan to open its first office in Saudi Arabia this month, sales director Nader Hijazi has told Caterer Middle East.

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