Mike Lister was installed as general manager of Topgro

What is Topgro and why was it set up?

Topgro is a 50:50 joint venture between Mehadrin Tnuport and Afrupro and first approached Tesco two years ago [March 2005] with a unique model for the fresh produce industry.

As two grower-owned organisations, we have been able to establish a non-profit making avocado category manager and cut out the middleman. We have a staff of just three in the UK and we concentrate on maximising returns for both the customer and the growers.

We take a very small commission to run the UK office and take the vast majority of our product on a consignment basis. We use Malet Azoulay for all packing that is needed in the UK and when we pack it in the UK, we simply deduct the packing cost and all the returns go to either end of the supply chain.

Grant Blanden and Dov Warmen were instrumental in setting it all up and I guess you could call it a nuts and bolts model. There is no big marketing system or packhouse system to sustain.

What have been the results to date?

Purely on share, we started off with 11 per cent of the Tesco avocado programme and currently account for about 30 per cent. We supply Tesco with a value line, a baby four-pack, a Finest line and two loose lines.

Our service is based on a simple sourcing strategy. From January to May, we have Israeli avos, from June to September, we move into South Africa and then Chile takes over from October to the end of the year. We fill any gaps between Israel and South Africa with Peruvian product and have a very good relationship with growers there. The only other source we use on an occasional basis is Spain.

How have the growers responded to this venture?

They love it. We don’t ask for exclusivity, so most of our growers are supplying a number of other importers in various countries. And consistently we are able to deliver better returns on their product. Even growers supplying some of the ‘top-end’ retailers are still struggling to match our results.

We have three or four visits from growers every year and they think Topgro is a fantastic concept. We are constantly in contact with them and have a very tight control of crop and weather forecasts, so we have a very good idea of sizing and quality well in advance of shipping the product.

Topgro could not have succeeded without the full commitment of growers - we needed them to be right behind us from day one. And they have been.

And your customer?

As far as Tesco is concerned, first and foremost we have increased returns for them, which is obviously a priority.

Tesco recognises the potential for avocados in the UK and we have given them another option to pursue that growth. As our only customer at the moment, I hope it is a benefit for them to be able to pick up the phone to myself or one of my colleagues and know that we are thinking about avocados for Tesco 24 hours a day and nothing else.

They can call at any time and be sure that our minds will be full of satisfying their requirements. Despite having just three people in the UK, we have a wealth of resources at our disposal through Afrupro, Mehadrin and our grower network.

There is also the opportunity, should Tesco want to use it, to show that this is an extremely good venture for growers and that they are thinking of their supply chain and encouraging sustainability.

How has the rest of the market reacted?

I think it has raised quite a few eyebrows and it has certainly put us in the spotlight. As soon as you say you are trying to cut out the middleman, you leave yourself open to some criticism and we are very wary of that. Right from the start, that has been one of the driving forces behind our desire to make a success of it.

Do you expect this model to be replicated elsewhere?

That’s difficult to predict, but I’m sure we have been watched closely. As it has worked, it would appear there is a place in the marketplace for this sort of thing to happen and there is no real reason why it should be exclusively an avocado model.

Supermarkets are all trying to get closer to growers and this is one way of achieving that.

You replaced Grant Blanden - now of Westfalia - in this position at the beginning of the year. What is your background?

I was managing a farm in Zimbabwe from the age of 25 - we farmed mangetout, chillies, stonefruit and tobacco. I then managed the Zimbabwe Tomato Drying Company for a period before coming over to the UK in late 2004. For the last two and a half years, I was citrus account manager for Tesco in the Mehadrin UK office.