Carrefour Belgium aims to be ‘First in Fresh’ | Progresiv

As part of an exclusive collaboration with Greenyard, a producer of fresh, frozen and prepared fruit and vegetables, amongst other products, Carrefour Belgium is looking to drive improvements in its supply of fresh ranges.

The two companies have said the collaboration, which has been launched under the name ‘First in Fresh’, will allow store managers to buy fresh products in individual portions. To enable the initiative, Greenyard has built a distribution centre in Sint-Katelijne-Waver from which orders from Carrefour stores are collated and distributed. Store owners will now be able to make orders five times a week, with various Carrefour suppliers delivering to the Sint-Katelijne-Waver distribution centre, from which orders are put together at an individual store level. The centre will receive orders from bread, charcuterie, cheese, chilled fruit juice, fish, meals and sushi suppliers.

Commenting on the step, Carrefour spokesperson, Baptiste Van Outryve, said: “From there we can send our stores individual portions of fresh products, ranging from fruit and vegetables to bread, meat and fish. That is a big step forward for our operators.” As Carrefour looks to expand in Belgium through the addition of more franchised stores, so this agreement will help them be more flexible in their ordering and limit the amount of waste they generate.

The need for growing flexibility in the supply chain for Carrefour Belgium is growing in line with its expanding store base. This need came into focus as the retailer recently opened its 300th Carrefour Express store in Belgium and the announcement that it is aiming to add about 20 more stores under the banner annually in the short term.

Meanwhile, as part of a separate development, Carrefour Poland has signed contracts with seven fruit and vegetable producers in Poland to improve its supply of fresh produce. The contracts were signed as part of Carrefour’s Nutritional Transformation strategy, which it is implementing in 2018. The Transformation initiative five key pillars: implementation of an organic farming plan; promotion of local and regional ranges; long-term support for farmers transitioning to organic; greater focus on organic food and the availability of funds through the Carrefour Foundation.

Carrefour signed agreements with Agrohurt, Grono, Fruit, Szpargrol, Olbromski, Natureza and the Swietokrzyska Farm. The first deliveries following the signing of the agreements should reach Carrefour’s shelves in July 2018. As part of the agreement, Carrefour gives suppliers access to grants for co-financing of organic production and for logistics costs. (www.igd.com)