A fresh experience
Jane Bordenave speaks to the general manager of Freshly Frozen Foods about its pioneering enterprise and plans for the future.
Freshly Frozen Foods is the premier producer of prepared food products in the Middle East. Founded in 2004, the Dubai-based company provides high quality ready meals for major retailers, as well as prepared, frozen products for the fast food sector.
The companyÔÇÖs main area of operations is the Middle East. ÔÇ£When the company was first founded,ÔÇØ says general manager Densil Quadros, ÔÇ£we mainly produced value-added frozen seafood products for export to the United States and Europe. However in 2006, we decided to focus on our core market in the Middle East. There was a massive gap in the prepared food market in the United Arab Emirates and surrounding areaÔÇödemand was much higher than supply. We also had the advantage of being based in an Arab country, so we did not face the same tariffs as we had done exporting outside of the region. As we are an Arab company, the reception of our products within the Middle East has also been excellent.ÔÇØ
The company is still operational within Europe and the US, although this aspect of Freshly Frozen FoodsÔÇÖ business only makes up 10 per cent of its ┬ú25 million revenue.
Food serviceÔÇösupplying frozen products to canteens and fast food chainsÔÇöis the companyÔÇÖs main area of activity, comprising 60 per cent of its total business in the Middle East. ÔÇ£We provide finished meals, or parts of meals, to these outlets,ÔÇØ explains Quadros, ÔÇ£so that when a product is needed, the member of staff at the restaurant only needs to put the food item in to cook. They do not need to do any extra preparation or finishing.ÔÇØ The business works with its clients at the development stage, enabling them to reduce costs and ensure that they maintain the ÔÇÿfastÔÇÖ element of their operations at the customer-facing stage.
The retail sector makes up the remaining 40 per cent of the companyÔÇÖs business activities. ÔÇ£This segment consists of supplying high-end prepared meals to supermarkets for sale under our own brand, namely the Freshly and Senora brands.ÔÇØ
Freshly Frozen Foods also has a ready-to-eat fresh meals operation, which is available to both the retail and food service sectors. ÔÇ£We supply pre-packed, fresh meals to service stations, hospitals, schools, canteens in businesses and banks,ÔÇØ says Quadros. ÔÇ£We are hoping to grow this area, with a production target of 20,000 meals per day by the end of 2010. There are limitations to how far we can expand this project, though. As the items have a short shelf life, we cannot export them outside of the UAE. Nevertheless, there is great potential for growth. We are the only company in the region that is doing business in this areaÔÇöwe are completely without competition. As we only started to produce fresh prepared meals in 2009, demand still significantly outstrips supply, and we are working to fulfil the needs of our clients and their customers.ÔÇØ
The variety of cuisines found in Freshly Frozen FoodsÔÇÖ products is a reflection of the diverse nationalities found in the UAE and surrounding area. The companyÔÇÖs meals are inspired by cooking from the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent and Europe. The experience of having catered with these different flavours prompted another recent diversification of the companyÔÇÖs business. ÔÇ£We saw an opportunity based on our experience within food serviceÔÇöas we cater to all these multinational chains, why not establish our own chain of restaurants?ÔÇØ And thus, Bayleaf was born.
The restaurants are fine dining and serve Indian food, with a twist. ÔÇ£We wanted our restaurants to reflect the ÔÇÿpassage to IndiaÔÇÖ rather than what you would normally find in an Indian restaurant,ÔÇØ Quadros explains. ÔÇ£There are 72 distinct types of regional cuisine in India. Most Indians will have tasted at the most three, so we wanted to give them a chance to experience a wide range of cuisines from all over their country.ÔÇØ Two Bayleaf restaurants were established in 2009 with four more to open in 2010, in Abu Dhabi, Sharja and Dubai. In 2011, the company intends to extend the brand into the UAE and the neighbouring countries of Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, bringing the total number of Bayleaf restaurants to 20. All the sauces for the restaurants will be produced in the companyÔÇÖs plant in Dubai with the supply chain being controlled centrally, to ensure uniform quality in every restaurant.
A reliable supply chain is of great importance to the company and is necessary to ensure its clients receive the high level of quality they expect, Quadros explains. ÔÇ£Dubai is a very arid country, so we cannot source ingredients locally. Instead, we have to import our raw material from countries like Brazil, Vietnam, Thailand and the UK. It would be very difficult for us to monitor quality by ourselves. Our solution has been to work with partners based in each of these countries. These partners run monthly audits to ensure that the quality of the raw materials we receive remains consistently high.ÔÇØ
The company has also spread its interests in recent years, acquiring a poultry processing plant in Pune, 120 kilometres outside Mumbai, in October 2009 and becoming a major shareholder of a tuna and sardine processing plant in Oman. The tuna plant can already process 100 tonnes of tuna per dayÔÇöthe largest capacity in the regionÔÇöand the capacity of the plant in India is to be raised from the current 10,000 birds per day to 40,000 over the next three years.
With the companyÔÇÖs continued diversification and expansion in the region, it is clear that Freshly Frozen Foods will be providing quality meals and services in the Middle East for many years to come.
