DE Kolla Emilie grapes India

German fresh produce company Kölla’s first attempt to market Indian grapes using its own brand, Emilie, has turned out to be a great success, according to the company.

“We knew the quality of the grapes was very good so we decided to use our own brand for this,” said Saskia Bergmann, managing director of Kölla Overseas.

The aim was to send one container a week (6 x 800-850g grapes in branded paper handle bags and open 5kg carton). “We did not expect that we would have such a success,” said Bergmann.

Apparently the Emilie brand won over so many customers that the containers were already sold before they had reached the port, with demand high in Germany and Benelux countries.

“Not least for reasons of sustainability, we have also further optimised ourselves in the area of packaging and have our beautiful Emilie paper bags and boxes produced locally in each case,” explains Saskia Bergmann. “Not only does this save us CO2, because previously the packaging was not produced locally, but it also saves us a lot of time.”

'After this positive experience, we definitely want to expand the offer,' said Jose Claure, managing director purchasing at Kölla Overseas.

Since its founding in 2016, Kölla Overseas has aimed to identify the best producers worldwide and designate them as partners in order to keep its promise of supplying higher quality grapes than the market demands.

“This commitment and the friendly Emilie brand offer Kölla Overseas the opportunity to market table grapes of superior quality throughout the upcoming 2021/2022 overseas campaign,” the company stated.