Food Lover's Market

Food Lover's Market is a South African supermarket chain operating franchised grocery stores and convenience stores throughout Southern Africa.[5]

Food Lover's Market
Private
IndustryRetail
Founded1993[1]
FounderBrian Coppin
Mike Coppin[2]
HeadquartersBrackenfell, Western Cape, South Africa[3]
Number of locations
320 (120 grocery stores and 200 convenience stores)[4]
Area served
Southern Africa
Key people
Brian Coppin (CEO)[2]
Websitehttps://foodloversmarket.co.za
Entrance of a Food Lover's Eatery outlet.
Exterior of the Food Lover's Eatery outlet on Heerengracht Street in Foreshore, Cape Town.

Food Lover’s Market is a specialist fresh produce retailer, with a unique concept of offering a market-feel to the shopping experience. The business is focused on becoming South Africa’s premier fresh destination, offering value and variety to customers. Originally founded as a Fruit & Veg City in 1993 by Michael and Brian Coppin, the retail chain now boasts over 130 stores across South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Angola, Zimbabwe and Mauritius.

The Food Lovers Market Group encompasses Food Lover’s Market, Food Lover’s Eateries, FreshStop convenience forecourt stores, Seattle Coffee Company, Market Liquors, Diamond Liquors and FVC International - the largest exporter of fresh produce in South Africa.

The company is a member of the Franchise Association of South Africa.[1]

With an annual turnover of more than 13 billion rands, the Food Lover’s Market Group services more than 380 000 daily customers and employs over 17 000 colleagues. Food Lover’s Market prides itself on its quality fresh produce, its “theatre of food” experience with a distinctive market feel and its consistent value offerings for the consumer. The retailer aims to cater to diverse consumer personalities and tastes.

Theatre of foods and all departments

At Food Lover’s Market, the team has recreated the ambience of an old-fashioned marketplace in a modern theatre-of-food setting. Visiting their store truly is an experience like no other. The focus is on offering an experiential shopping experience, where customers can see, smell, hear and taste throughout the shop. Department showcased in a way that showcases fresh produce items as if shopping in an open-air market.

History

Fruit and Veg City

Fruit & Veg City was founded in 1993 by brothers Michael and Brian Coppin. From inception, it was a family business, with emphasis placed on good old family values such as wholesomeness, trust, honesty and integrity. The brother’s vision was to create a store that would resemble a marketplace of old, where farmers brought their fresh produce from their farms to be sold to the public. This was how their first store in Kenilworth, Cape Town was run. The dedication to freshness at an affordable price has always remained one of the cornerstones on which Fruit & Veg City - and today Food Lover’s Market - is built. Following on shortly after the opening of the Access Park store in Kenilworth, the brothers quickly expanded to other provinces of South Africa.

Today there are more than 130 Food Lover’s Market stores in throughout Sub-Southern Africa, with Fruit & Veg City as its cornerstone.

Food Lover’s Market

The next step in the evolution of Fruit & Veg City was to create a modern eatery where food aficionados could indulge in a range of gourmet foods. It was this vision that finally gave birth to Food Lover’s Market, a “theatre of food” shopping experience that was designed specifically with connoisseurs in mind. The first new-look store, named Food Lover's Market, was set up in Hillfox, Johannesburg in 2003. Today, it still covers an area of 3,600m2 and employs nearly 300 colleagues. The Food Lover’s Market concept saw the addition of fresh departments, including a bakery, a butchery and a quick-service restaurant. The store layout was designed to ensure that customers pass every department before they reach the checkouts.

To create this modern food emporium, the Food Lover’s Market executive team crossed the globe in search of the hottest international trends in food. They visited the United States, Europe, Australia and the East - and then brought the best elements of what they saw there back with them.

Brands

The Food Lovers Market Group encompasses:

  • Food Lover’s Market
  • Food Lover’s Eateries
  • FreshStop convenience forecourt stores
  • Seattle Coffee Company
  • Market Liquors
  • Diamond Liquors
  • FVC International - the largest exporter of fresh produce in South Africa.

The best in Fresh guarantee

The retailer implemented the Best in Fresh Guarantee in 2018, which consisted of four brand promises. It is built on the premise of a no questions asked money-back guarantee, which encourage employees to live the brand daily by ensuring customers receive: The Best Value, The Best Range, The Best Quality and The Best Service. These guarantees are available across the following departments: Fruit and Veg; Meat; Cheese; Deli; Bakery; Fish and Nuts.

Promotional Deals

The fresh produce retailer employs various regular promotions, which include 50 Buck Friday, Ten Buck Tuesday, Whammy Wednesday and Friday the 13th. Aside from the Festive Retail period, two major promotional weeks for the brand are Summer Carnival and Winter Carnival - week-long promotional periods which has a key focus on offering heavily discounted deals across all departments, with a key focus on fruit and veg.

Corporate headquarters

The original corporate Head Office was located in Thornton, Cape Town conveniently located opposite the Epping fresh produce market in Cape Town. In 2015, the Head Office was relocated to a modern three-story building in London Circle, Brackengate - an industrial park in Brackenfell, Western Cape.

Partnerships

Food Lover's Market receives some of its products from South African company Dried Fruit for All, and supplies its stores through FVC International, a South African import and export company.[5]

Dried Fruits For All

In 1999, the Fruit and Veg City Group entered into a supplier agreement for Dried Fruits For All to provide the products and packaging for the fresh produce group.

The growth at Dried Fruit For All is linked exclusively to the explosive growth of the Fruit & Veg City Group in South and Southern Africa. Products are sourced in bulk from local well established and well-managed fruit farmers and driers in the Western Cape, and nuts are imported in conjunction with long-standing relationships between both global nut exporters in Europe and local importers that are key players in the South African market. The company has three warehouses that are situated in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, comprising a total of 2100m2 under roof. The company owns a fleet of thirteen vehicles ranging from four-ton trucks for the delivery of promotional products and one-ton vehicles for delivering smaller orders.

Dried Fruits For All today is wholly owned by the Food Lover’s Market Group.

FVC International

Wholly owned by the Food Lovers Market Group, FVC International takes care of all imports and exports within the group and is the largest importer of fresh produce into South Africa - as well as the fastest-growing exporter, shipping more than 7000 containers each year and exporting to more than 35 countries worldwide. It has its own logistics company in partnership with two of the largest producers in South Africa, which ensures that orders reach their destination in the shortest possible time.

All fruit is picked on GlobalGAP certified farms to ensure that safe, sustainable farming practices have been adhered to. Over the years, solid relationships have been established with farmers, who have extensive knowledge and experience in growing and harvesting fresh produce for export.

From the farms, the fruit is transported to our HACCP accredited packing facilities where it is carefully sorted and packed into cartons according to PPECB export standards. It is then transported to certified cold rooms at FVC International terminals, which are all located within minutes of the country’s major ports.

FVC International also has its own logistics company in partnership with two of the largest producers in South Africa, which ensures that orders reach their destination in the shortest possible time.

In total, 12500 containers are shipped each year and exported to more than 35 countries worldwide.

Seattle Coffee Company

Seattle Coffee Company outlets sit alongside Food Lover’s Market, Food Lover’s Eatery and FreshStop at Caltex convenience forecourts. In 2015, Food Lover's Market Holdings extended its partnership with an artisanal coffee brand, Seattle Coffee Company - now also part of the Food Lover's Market Group. The success of the Seattle Coffee Company brand is that its business based on relationships with its partners, baristas, roasters and suppliers. While the focus is on great coffee, investing in the training of baristas is key in the Seattle Coffee Co. business.

Seattle Coffee Company outlets sit alongside Food Lover’s Market, Food Lover’s Eatery and FreshStop at Caltex convenience forecourts. In 2015, Food Lover's Market Holdings extended its partnership with an artisanal coffee brand, Seattle Coffee Company - now also part of the Food Lover's Market Group.

Food Forward SA

Partnered since 2009, the company donates R50,000 worth of food, as well as surplus fruit and vegetables, to food redistribution organization FoodForward SA's beneficiaries.[6] Food Lover's Market donated over 165,000 kilograms of excess food as part of this partnership, during the 2017 financial year.[6]

Absa

Food Lover's Market has a partnership with South African bank ABSA, whereby ABSA customers can earn cash back by using their debit and credit cards at Food Lover's stores.[7]

Corporate Social Investment

Earth Lovers is the CSI department within Food Lover's Market Group. Their aim is to support the efforts of providing nutritious food to those in needs. Each store supplies fresh fruit and vegetables to ensure that children in their immediate communities are well-fed - especially through this difficult time in which school feeding schemes have been disrupted.

Through its sustainability and CSI arm, Food Lover’s s Market supports various organisations through donations and fundraising. FoodForward SA is a long-standing partner. They provide food relief for over 600 NPOs and are the beneficiaries of our World Hunger Month campaign, which kicks runs throughout May. The retailer offers continued support to them via its distribution centre.

Hunger Month, the annual flagship project, raised over 1 million meals during May 2020, in collaboration with partners. The partner contributions included 1.5kg bags of TRU-CAPE apples or pears, 1.5l SIMPL juice, 7kg bags of Crestshelf potatoes, a box of Westfalia Avocados and a 6kg ZZ2 box of tomatoes. When purchased in Food Lover’s Market stores, these products each go towards contributing a meal to a family in need through FoodForward SA. On 28th May 2020, World Hunger Day, Food Lovers Market also donated 1% of turnover to this campaign and to achieve the goal of feeding 1 million South Africans.

Earth Lovers CSI has also identified and worked with vulnerable communities through organisations such as Meals on Wheels, the Kolisi Foundation and various other community organisations that aim to feed the hungry.

References
  1. "Food Lover`s Market". The Franchise Association of South Africa. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  2. "Food Lover's Market". SA Franchise Brands. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  3. "Contact". Food Lover's Market. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  4. "R760m investment boost for Food Lover's Market". Fin24. 2015-12-05. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  5. "Out Story". Food Lover's Market. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  6. "Annual Report 2017" (PDF). FoodForward SA. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
  7. "Food Lover's Market". ABSA. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
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