The FINANCIAL — Marshe, one of the leading meat goods producers in Georgia, plans to offer premium class products and attract new customers through active marketing campaigns. Meanwhile, the company intends to improve the export opportunities of its products.
“The Georgian market is becoming more and more interesting for international franchising. Accordingly, we are continuing our cooperation with international brands more intensively and creating joint products,” said the Director of Marshe Ekaterine Chkhaberidze.
Last year Marshe raised awareness of itself among Georgian customers, increased its assortment and improved on the existing ones.
“We offer our customers healthy, high-quality products made with local raw materials. As of today, Marshe products are available not only in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi but in other regions of Georgia. Customers can find Marshe products in fast food and restaurant chains as well as in Marshe branded stores,” she added.
Marshe established partnerships with several fast food chains such as Wendy’s, Dunkin Donuts, Ronny’s Pizza and KFC.
Q. How would you assess the beginning of 2016?
A. Thanks to the Government’s efforts to improve the business and economy climate in Georgia we see positive and stable development trends on the market. We also see more and more players are entering the market and offering the same or similar products and services to customers. So now we have a goal to maintain and strengthen our leading position and offer competitive and customer-oriented products.
At the same time we are expanding the local distribution network. In particular, we have entered Georgia’s Kakheti region and plan to cover all regions of the country by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, we are negotiating with neighbouring countries to export our production there. More specifically, we are in talks with Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Belarus.
Q. How many customers do you have and how is the number increasing every year?
A. As of today we have about 6,000 corporate clients. In the first three months of 2016 the number of our clients increased by two percent. We hope to improve this number significantly by the end of this year.
Q. How many products do you make and which are the most popular?
A. In total we produce about 300 product varieties, of which the most demanded are different kinds of sausages, ham, Khinkali (a Georgian dumpling with spiced meat, herbs and onions) and Pelmeni. These products make up 70 percent of all product varieties made by Marshe.
We want to note that Marshe was the first company to establish Georgian-made fish production and offer a wide variety of assortment. Accordingly, our fish products are gradually gaining more and more popularity.
Q. How do you prove that you offer high-quality products and what creates the high standards at the company?
A. Our plant is equipped with ultramodern European equipment and innovative technologies. This is necessary for creating high standard products.
Marshe owns the FSSC 22000 Food Safety System Certification that provides a framework for effectively managing your organisation’s food safety responsibilities. We are the first and so far the only company in Georgia to own this certificate in our segment. This encourages us to say that we offer the highest quality products to customers.
We pay huge attention to choosing the raw material which we import from the European Union (EU). We import pork, chicken and turkey from the EU, while the beef is local.
After receiving the raw materials we check them in a laboratory and then start production. We monitor this process, starting from the raw materials to each technique. Besides, we regularly monitor the trade networks where Marshe production is being sold and meet all the requirements of our customers.
However, behind the high-quality Marshe production are the personnel who create this production. Marshe is distinguished by its qualified and highly professional staff. Thanks to them we are able to keep the leading position on the market.
Q. Does the standard of Marshe meat products meet European standards?
A. Marshe is focused on producing high-quality and safe products.
We can freely say that we meet European standards and this is proved by our food safety management system which is certified by the German company TUV SUD.
Q. Congratulations on receiving Golden Brand. Could you please tell us how the company won this influential award?
A. Together with other enterprises in Georgia we participated in the competition arranged by the European Fund.
Throughout the whole year independent experts constantly monitored the food safety standards at our company. At the end of the year 2015 Marshe was revealed to be the best food enterprise in Georgia.
Following this award we received Golden Brand as well. We are very thankful to both organisations for giving us these awards and also feel huge responsibility at the same time.
We are happy to see our hard work is recognised and we do hope to receive more and more awards in the coming years.
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