Over the past 5 years, Sulmer Frucht has set itself the goal of giving a second life to fruit and vegetables that have been rejected from the sales market. Based in eastern France, the company operates mainly in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and France.
"We have succeeded in consolidating a good network of producers, suppliers, and transporters. We collect rejected merchandise and try to route it as close as possible to the place where the products are located, thereby maximizing their value for our customers and minimizing transport costs. 30% of this merchandise is then resold locally. As for highly impacted products, we recover them in our facilities, clean them and then resell them," explains Ferhat Yilmaz, Sales Manager at Sulmer Frucht.
60 to 70 tonnes of recycled products per month
Today, around 60 to 70 tonnes of fruit and vegetables a month are reintroduced into the commercial channels. "We do about 3-4 crops a week, depending of course on the season. Given inflation, these volumes tend to plateau. Although our network of growers and suppliers is already good, we'd like to expand it and find new customers for these downgraded fruits and vegetables.
Merchandise resold at -20 / -30% of market price
In addition to taking part in the fight against food waste, this solution can be attractive for growers on several levels: "Our suppliers and growers outsource most of the work to us. We take care of transporting rejected goods and try to recycle them as effectively as possible. Not everyone can sell a rejected product while adding value to it. You need a certain amount of experience and a good network to succeed. In addition to recovering the merchandise, we try to sell it at -20% / -30% of the market price. Our commission rate is very low, around 8%, to guarantee the best possible profit for the producer/supplier. This isn't always easy, as we only work with rejected products, so it can sometimes be challenging to meet expectations. But we also offer our producers a degree of security. They know that if their merchandise is ever rejected, they have a backup plan to sell it anyway.
For further information:
Ferhat Yilmaz
Sulmer Frucht
Tel.: 07 63 64 16 30
[email protected]
