MBS Inspiration
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The MBS Group
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Eat fresh!
Always on the look-out for the next best supermarket, I would like to suggest that all CEOs, trading and operations directors of any supermarket the world over hop on the next plane to Cape Town and check out Food Lover’s Market.
Fruit & Veg City was founded in 1993 by two brothers, Brian and Mike Coppin, who had worked in supermarkets for years. They had a vision to create stores that would resemble a farmer’s market of old, where farmers brought their fresh produce straight from their farms to be sold to the public. This was how they set up the their first store and, indeed, how they run every Fruit & Veg City that has opened since. The two brothers have managed to sustain the concept throughout South Africa by building firm, strong and mutually beneficial relationships with farmers up and down the country. Farmers deliver their fresh produce directly to a Fruit & Veg City depot and their own staff load and deliver to the stores, ensuring freshness and savings for the customers by cutting out the middle man.
Fast forward to 2012 and there are 60 Fruit & Veg Cities, 66 Freshstop shops at Caltex Petrol Stations and, now, 60 Food Lover’s Markets. The Food Lover’s Market concept is a new incarnation of Fruit & Veg City and is a stylish and modern food emporium that provides real “food theatre”. As far as I know, there is no supermarket like it anywhere where value for money, store layout, great staff, shop fit and product is as exceptional, and where customers are made to feel like food connoisseurs.
More staff on the shop floor in The Food Lover’s Market means that colleagues can give customers recipes and tips for meals – in short, an incredible service. The Food Lover’s team travel all over the world in search of the hottest international trends in food and then bring the best elements of what they have seen back with them. Food Lover’s sells food that is fresh, of outstanding quality, locally-sourced and at real value. The meat department is outstanding, the cheese department is world class and the theatre in the cake and biscuit department, where soft music plays just in this section, is amazing! There is also a sushi bar on a conveyer belt and dried fruits and nuts in custom-made barrels, which should themselves be marketed and sold to all supermarkets!
I am inspired and, if I lived here, it would be my supermarket of choice. Come and check it out and let me know what you think – moira@thembsgroup.co.uk. Have a great week-end and don’t forget to eat fresh!
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