The 20-year-old sectors of a French exotic fruit SME are popular

No doubt that local food is desirable in terms of carbon footprint; but is not available for all organic and fair trade fruits.

Hence the richness represented by the supply channels of exotic fruits, dried fruits, and nuts, super fruits for an organic distributor.

And the difficulty for him to find a reliable partner

The challenge : to offer a triple qualitative guarantee: health, taste and sustainability.

Few suppliers offer these guarantees.

And to have guaranteed them for a very long time.

These guarantees have a price that must be accepted

The whole difficulty of export negotiations is to enhance, literally, the value of such supply chains.

In a word, sell value and not just a product whose only virtue would be the lowest price.

What is value?

What are our customers, the specialized organic stores and organic distributors promoting and what are organic consumers looking for today?

Beyond food; “external values”, externalities such as ecological, sustainable, transparency, health, energy abstinence , etc… values.

Value is the opposite of easy standardization which only focuses on the lowest possible price, to the point of completely sterilize a product.

A strategy based on low prices alone is a dead end for everyone.

High value products are complex to design, but this becomes an obstacle to market entry for competitors.

The value, the main strength of French organic food manufacturer when it comes to exportation

This is precisely the heart of the traditional know-how of French organic food makers.

They will always find customers abroad which willingness to pay will fill the “gap” which is the price of value.

The German organic market a holy grail very difficult to reach

With its multiple retail trademarks and outlets selling organic products, the German market is a major goal in terms of sales.

The main obstacles, a clash of cultures

A Pan-Germanic preference, admitting no exceptions.

A predominantly discount culture – and therefore price – Vs French talent for super-quality – this subtle balance between healthy, nutritional and taste – and therefore extra cost.

A very “Saxon” hyper-rigor that is sometimes incompatible with our “Latin” culture.

However, a trend towards quality is here!

Thus, some organic importer-distributor brands have resolutely positioned themselves in a organic delicatessen niche.

Their strategy is to offer to the German supermarkets a Gourmet alternative of the “main stream” organic foods which compete with low prices for the supermarkets shelves.

Therefore high-quality organic products are sold in several thousand outlets of the main retailers.

This strategy serves as well discount brands looking for an image benefit and… a high customer base.

A positioning matching the French quality.

Go for it, these german partners are pragmatic, efficient and reliable

Denmark, a small country of less than six million inhabitants, is the world champion in organic food consumption.

With 13% of food consumption (out of €2.15bn in 2019, €1.93bn in 2022), ahead of Austria 11.3%, Switzerland 10.8% and in sixth place, France 6% (1 ).

Denmark is also a pioneer in organic certification. The national organic label (Økologisk, Organic in Danish) was created in 1987, two years after France.

A strategic marketplace served by a strong purchasing power and concentration of distribution.

Indeed the signs of centralized distribution, essentially the “hard discounters like Netto, concentrate more than 90% of sales.

Tough competition that promotes innovation and reassuring values such as the guarantee of sustainability of origins.

Processed products whose raw materials fluctuate from supplier to origin according to opportunism, the Danish consumer will opt for the guarantee of identifiable and sustainable fair trade supplies.

Export French Organic know-how private labeled

The Italian N°1 multi-channel organic distributor worked out the finest design for its PL pastas dedicated to the retail market.

He selected the French pastas on a purely Qualitative basis.

No doubt about it; aren’t the Italians the undisputed masters when it comes to pastas!!

Quality resulting from an innovation

The QUALITATIVE excellence of these legume pastas does not come from nowhere. They has been crowned by an Italian jury who awarded in 2016 during the Organic fair in Bologna, SANA, with best legume paste prize!

Neither bla-bla, nor phony storytelling, but a technological step up which lead to a specific manufacturing process and line designed by this manufacturer.

In 2014, this pioneer manufacturer of Legumes gluten-free pasta created his own low-temperature/low-speed process using only indigenous flours with none of these additives necessary on the high-speed industrial lines of its competitors.

Major measurable and irrefutable USP (Unique Selling Points) for the benefits of consumers

• An exceptional preservation of the natural nutrients and vitamins of the raw materials;
• A pretty bright and natural color even after cooking; when all competing pastas see their colors fade into an unappetizing gray once cooked;
• A pleasant natural taste and a unique chew, when all the other pastas with legumes fall apart when cooked like porridge;
• To date, these legumes pastas are the only one can cook al dente; and that stay tasty hot, or cold in salads.

Certainly Organic, but moreover, and above all Tasty and Gorgeous. The added values that Denan & Associés brings when negotiating export prices.

Today, organic consumers are no longer satisfied with the sole certification stamp.

They favor healthy ingredients and short recipes (the “Clean Label”), and at the same time they demand a pleasure food, full of flavors.

At the same time, the traditional “delicatessen” consumer has evolved.

Admittedly, he is looking for flavors, refinement and pleasure, but also healthy foods, rich in nutrients, carrying societal and ethical values and health claims.

Moreover, he has the willingness to pay to satisfy these multiple requirements.

These two universes of consumers are found in Bio-Plaisir.

Gone are the days of the sad organic diet, it has come to La Bio Gastronomique; it is the future of French agrifood industry

This French organic legume (pink lentils) pasta is clearly distinguished by a concern for colors, textures and flavors; unequaled to date!

This is why the Dutch No. 1 for organic products mentions it in its consumer magazine – paper and digital – with this magnificent culinary illustration.

These unique qualities are the result of extensive R&D and then an innovative manufacturing process.

Ten years after their implementation, they still constitute an obstacle for competition to enter this fast-growing market.

French organic gluten-free pasta in Denmark with Denan & Associés

With 14% (2020), the organic market share is the highest in the world
A small country of nearly 6 million inhabitants but a large organic country; even in the midst of the current economic turmoil.

So, a market to pamper beyond its quantitative volume, for its qualitative potential.

Hegemonic domination of the GMS

In fact, there are hardly any organic shops in Denmark.

With 29% organic market share in 2018, Salling Group and its leading brand, the discounter Netto (more than 500 stores, 17% organic market share) dominate organic distribution alongside Rema 1000 (Reitan group, 326 POS), and SuperBrugsen (234 POS) from Coop Danmark.

Private labeling, the passport to access this very difficult and expensive supermarket to manage from France

This is why the strategic choice of Denan & Associés is to enter into partnerships with local organic cross-brands; provided that they are implemented in all of these brands.

The example here is a private label range

4 gluten-free pasta intended for packaged retail sale;
1 paste for the bulk market; retail, and restoration,
the 5 are also present on the partner’s e-commerce platform.

After Pasta (gluten-free) from Provence, Grissinis!!

The border has never been so porous with our neighbours. It is against another transalpine icon that this organic manufacturer based in Provence is successfully challenging.

Here again, it is innovation that makes the difference to export.

Indeed, these Provençal breadsticks show at least three qualitative changes that have been appreciated:

1. a crispy lamb’s lettuce then melts in the mouth;
2. a frank flavoring 100% from the ingredients;
3. a short recipe with an attractive nutritional balance.

This successful range diversification is the result of a “step by step” strategy

1. To come firstly with a “spearhead” range concentrating the differentiating know-how of the manufacturer;
2. Being offered to the export distributor partner the means to protect themselves from competition and to communicate;
3. Once confidence has been established, unroll its complements to the range.

And chooses its private label for this gluten-free pasta

And 11! The range is expanding and the French manufacturer has established itself with this major organic distributor.

It is in fact the leader in this very technical market niche of gluten-free pasta and more particularly legumes.

45 organic supermarkets including the largest organic surface in the country are concerned

On the scale of this country of 10M inhabitants, this brand offers a unique exposure.

A quasi-hegemonic position.

High willingness to pay for this private label of the Portuguese Organic consumer

Portuguese purchasing power is less than half that of France.

Nevertheless, the consumer does not shy away from the expense of food reputed to be healthy and nutritionally balanced.

A benefit that we undoubtedly owe to the credibility of this private label and to the care given to the label, which is very well argued.

A plant-Based Bolognese Tomato Sauce from Provence

Its recipe remains a mystery for many tomato sauce manufacturers, including transalpine ones, who would have tried to match it.

The secret will obviously not be revealed here.

Once again the French “tour de main” makes the difference.

A distinctive know-how to break into markets by using “niche” entry points.

The distribution of Organic in Ireland is concentrated at 70% in supermarkets

Organic foods benefit from a very broad distribution because it is available in all supermarket chains.

Namely Tesco (140 POS), Dunnes Stores (142 POS), Musgrave Group: Centra (450 POS) & Supervalu (225 POS), Spar (440 POS).

Approach and convince all these buyers from France; impossible mission?

At the very least an inordinate commercial cost.

This is why, once again, the brand of an already well-established wholesaler importer is the solution.

I believe in long term cooperations with common interest sharing goal parteners.

Exporting French pasta to Italy, a great challenge for this Provençal manufacturer

Paradoxical, organic hemp pasta (25%) exported to Italy even before their marketing in France? On analysis no. A public that consumes a lot of a certain food, familiar with a very wide variety of choices, will be the most inclined to test and adopt new varieties. In any supermarket in Turin, you will find pasta of specialties unknown from delicatessens from other countries. Innovation once again rewarded for export The agility of the French SME is the key to its export success, a necessary condition, but not sufficient. Combined with “French-style” taste excellence, it will assert its differentiation and raise powerful obstacles to the entry of competitors into the market.

Innovation once again rewarded for export

The agility of the French SME is the key to its export success, a necessary condition, but not sufficient. Combined with “French-style” taste excellence, it will assert its differentiation and raise powerful obstacles to the entry of competitors into the market.