Celebrating a focus on fresh

The strength of our brand is reflected by the loyalty of our huge customer base”

Food Lovers Market, which is renowned for fresh, whether it be fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, delicacies, nuts, health foods, or coffee, has much to celebrate having started out life as Fruit and Veg City 25 years ago as a single store at Access Park in Cape Town it has grown into a chain .of 125 stores all over Southern Africa. That is just the start of Food Lovers Market’s success.

According to CEO and co-founder, Brian Coppin the group now also consists of: 270 Fresh Stop stores, which is a convenience stop at Caltex garages with a big focus on fresh; the majority share in 172 Seattle Coffee shops; three Food Lovers Eatery restaurants in Cape Town’s city centre; 40 liquor stores; and a business that exports fresh produce to 35 African countries. However, he says the essence of Food Lovers Market remains fresh food. “We aim to be the best fresh destination in the country whether it is butchery, bakery, deli, or sushi. “We do fresh fish, cheese, hot foods, market cafes, nuts, juice bars, smoothy bars, ready-made meals to take home; everything that is fresh,” says Coppin. “We also stock the 5 000 top grocery lines in South Africa.” Most of the product that is cut, diced or sliced is produced at store-level - all the hot foods, smoothy bars, fruit salads, and most of the ready-made meals, which ensures freshness.

Food Lovers Market also has production facilities in Gauteng and Cape Town that do spices, sauces, frozen veg, garlic and ginger, juice, and skinny scoop, which is a protein ice-cream. Coppin explains that the idea for the business grew out of experience in the brothers’ wholesale business. “We realised there was a gap for fresh produce, so we opened our own store in Access Park, which is still going strong today and is probably one of our top-five stores,” says Coppin.

“We have moved the store four times within Access Park as it has grown; to the extent that we now have 1 881 square metres of fresh food shopping.

“We serve more than 12 000 customers each week. Our clientele is extremely loyal – to this day when I visit the store I have patrons telling me they have been shopping with us for more than 20 years,” says Coppin.

He says Food Lovers Market’s strength and competitive edge is its focus on fresh and speed to market. “We have a team of buyers around the country at municipal markets and at farm level, so our speed to market is faster than anybody else.

“The strength of our brand is reflected by the loyalty of our huge customer base that shops at the stores each week.

“Our brand resonates with customers across the spectrum, from the lower LSMs right up to the highest LSM, because they are all fresh and value conscious. “While the essence of our brand is fresh, it is also known for its quality and innovation. We travel around the world on a regular basis to see what is trending and for ways to improve quality. “At the moment the big trend is health and people cooking at home. In terms of quality, we are continually upgrading our distribution centres’ refrigeration and improving their ability to maintain the cold-chain to get the product from the farms to our stores as quick and as fresh as possible.

“We also place an emphasis on our impact on the environment and sustainability issues by having a team of engineers who focus on energy consumption and how we can reduce our footprint. Likewise, we have a strong focus on water usage and management.

“We have a programme called “Earth Lovers”, which is geared to improving our relationship with the communities that we serve and the environment we live in. ”Food Lovers Market also applies the latest technology to ensure food safety and food security.” Coppin says the Food Lovers Market brand is well known for its community involvement. “For example, we feed in the region of one million families a year through our involvement with World Hunger Day and partnership with True Cape, which we are grateful that we are able to do.”

Market conditions have been tough over the last couple of years with the country’s economic growth having declined on the one hand, and on the other hand many new supermarkets have opened all over the country, so competition is more intense.

“Everyone is fighting for market share, but on the positive side there is a more positive sentiment and the economic outlook is more encouraging,” says Coppin.

In terms of plans for the future, Coppin is upbeat. He says Seattle Coffee is probably the group’s most exciting brand at the moment, without a doubt the best coffee in the country, and a wonderful business.

“We also plan to roll out the Food Lovers Eatery brand at which we only do meals for on-site consumption. Our three Food Lovers Eatery restaurants in Cape Town’s city centre are doing anything between 12 000 and 15 000 meals a day.

“We are opening three more Food Lovers Eatery stores in Sandton, Rosebank and Braamfontein this year and will take the brand to Pretoria and Kwa-Zulu Natal as well as anywhere there is a big office or mixed use development where we can cater for office workers and residents in the area.

“We will continue to roll out Food Lovers Market at between 12 and 15 new stores a year, the Fresh Stop brand at between 25 and 40 new stores annually, and about 40 new Seattle Coffee outlets a year,” says Coppin.