"Supermarket business model no longer modern"

When I used to come home late I often didn't have time to go to the supermarket. This is why I started the meal box in October 2014. At the start I still made the boxes in my kitchen, there were around 100 per week. Now there are 250 to 300,000 meals a week," says founder Stéphane Ronse during the International Strawberry Congress. "I started in the kitchen and packed the boxes there. I delivered them in my own car with the airco on high. Now my dream is to supply to 1% of the Belgian households."

Belgian origin
He indicates that the concept wasn't new when he started with it. "There were multiple companies active that delivered meal boxes. There was Smartmat in Belgium and Hello Fresh was growing in Germany. Yet I was convinced that Foodbag had a space in that market. I believed it was very important that as many products as possible were of a Belgian origin. That's how I defined myself from the rest."

No longer modern
Stéphane Ronse indicates that the affairs in supermarkets are no longer modern. "The business model is still the same as decades ago. People go to the shop, grab a shopping cart or basket, find their products, unload them onto the check out, load them back in, put them in the car and take them home. All this put together costs a lot of time."

Exploding in 2020
More and more is ordered online. "Ordering fresh products online isn't normal for everyone yet, but this segment is growing too. The Fast Moving Consumer Goods are easier to order online, but more and more people are prepared to order fresh products online as well. According to GfK the online purchasing behaviour will explode in 2020."

In the area of distribution, cooled transport is increasing well organised. "In Belgium we have Bubble Post and in the Netherlands PostNL is working on cooled transport. "Time is very important, products have to be there when people expect them. The main reason for losing customers is badly organised distribution." For the coming years organising logistics and 'warehousing' are the challenges. "Everything has to be packaged late, as they are fresh products, but delivered as quickly as possible. Just in time management is a difficult challenge."

For more information:
Stéphane Ronse
stephane@foodbag.be
www.foodbag.be