Kaufland Hennigsdorf fruit vegetables

A Kaufland store in Hennigsdorf, near Berlin

Germany’s Lebensmittel Zeitung has reported on a number of key personnel changes within the fresh produce buying departments of three major grocery chains, Kaufland, Edeka and Coop.

Following the unexpected departure of its international fruit and vegetable sourcing manager Juan Antonio León Gomez earlier this year, hypermarket operator Kaufland is apparently preparing to promote from within by handing over responsibility for sourcing to Dietmar Frötscher, with Stefan Lukes also joining the buying department from Edeka.

Lebensmittel Zeitung also reports that Lukes’ successor at Edeka will be Stefan Dittert, who has been heading up the fresh produce buying division at Coop for the past couple of years and previously worked for Edeka in east Germany.

His apparent decision to move on from Coop by the end of this year – a move that will need to be sanctioned by Coop stakeholder Rewe Group – follows the departure two years ago of Tim Strübing, who left the Kiel-based chain to lead the fruit and vegetable buying team at hypermarket chain Globus.

In the meantime, Lebensmittel Zeitung also reports that Rewe Group is investing in two new distribution centres in order to expand its domestic grocery delivery service.

Elsewhere, Kaufland is reportedly looking to expand its international operations with its first venture into Australia, having purchased a plot of land for development in a suburb of Adelaide.