In just 3 years, Primaflor has reached an invoicing of approximately 14M Euros in this category and it forecasts 20M Euros for 2020
Today’s consumer wants to spend less time in the kitchen and is demanding fresh, convenient and healthy products. Anything carrying the label of ‘super food’ is very fashionable and along with the increase in vegetarians and vegans, there are now new consumers such as ‘flexitarians’. It is a panorama to which the agri-food companies have known how to adapt with pre-prepared and ready-cooked products, but where there is still a long way to go. “All the categories obviously have a ceiling, but in our case, I think that we still have quite a long way to go because our market has an 80% penetration and there is an important leap to reach 96% of the products of the first range. Apart from this, it should be underscored that the ceiling for the bowls is still a long way away; therefore, we still have years of good market trends,” states Cecilio Peregrín, corporate manager of the Primaflor Group. In this last category, that they have called Bowls & Extras, they have experienced an exponential growth in just three years, reaching an invoicing of nearly 14M Euros and with sales forecasts of 20M Euros in 2020. The company continues working to develop this sector as much as possible, with new mixtures that are “balanced, providing additional vitamins and proteins and that are also delicious”, for which they have been working alongside chef Rodrigo de la Calle, who has one Michelin star and the National Award for Healthy Gastronomy 2017. Primaflor is also a trustee of the Spanish Nutritional Foundation (Fundación Española de Nutrición).
Also in the area of the pre-prepared dishes that are ready to eat, they are about to launch a new ‘dipping’ line with different vegetables and accompanying sauces, which has yet to be given a name and that will probably be launched at Fruit Attraction. This is the way they are extending their impressive prepared product range (salads, wraps, sauces, juices, gazpacho, samorejo…), but at the same time they are not losing sight of possible innovations in fresh produce, “which is our origin, our raison d’être and what we really are: farmers who look after the earth to leave a more sustainable world behind them.”
Keys to development
Primaflor has proposed continuing at the forefront for new trends and, to do this, it is focusing on the idea of emphasising sustainability. An example of this is the development of new environmentally-friendly packaging without losing any of the quality. They are also evolving towards smaller packages, with less weight and they continue working hard to shorten the cooking times. Amongst their customers the Horeca sector is growing, representing 10% of its total invoicing and this will experience an important growth over the next five years, doubling its business share until reaching 20%.
