A confusing maze of wholesale buildings, warehouses, tower blocks, offices, shops, restaurants and bars, Rungis is much more than just a food market - it is a thriving, vibrant community, grouping together 1,230 companies and providing 12,200 jobs, with 7,200 of these at wholesale businesses.
In 2007, Rungis generated a turnover of €7.3 billion (£5.8bn). Some 20,400 buyers, all equipped with their official carte d’acheteur (buyer’s permit), visit the market on a regular basis, to scour its fish, meat, dairy and prepared product halls - as well as, of course, its nine fruit and vegetable wholesale buildings.
Rungis shifts around one million tonnes of fruit and vegetables a year, to a broad mix of clients including other wholesalers and markets, caterers, chefs, shops and traditional street market traders. Unlike in the UK, even supermarkets still use the hallowed premises on occasion, to top up and complement their range.
Rungis serves around 18 million European consumers, with 12m of those in a 150km radius from Paris, representing one out of five French people.
The market supplies 45 per cent of the fruit and vegetables consumed in the Parisian region, 50 per cent of the fish and shellfish, 35 per cent of the meat products and 50 per cent of the cut flowers and pot plants.
The gastronomic centre will celebrate a milestone anniversary in May 2009, having relocated to the site from traditional market Les Halles in the heart of Paris itself 40 years ago next year.
Rungis is also a star of the silver screen, making regular appearances with two programmes a week on national television channel France 2.
So what is the appeal for a buyer coming to the market? According to Philippe Stisi, communications manager for market authority Semmaris, it is a combination of factors. “Diversity of produce is one of the principal attributes of Rungis,” he says. “The market is also one of the few remaining places where the relationships between people - traders and buyers - are as important as the quality of the produce itself. We do everything we can here to favour buyers who have the carte d’acheteur.”
Semmaris president and chief executive officer Marc Spielrein tells FPJ: “Fresh fruit distribution is facing many significant changes - for example, the increasing share of hard discounters in some countries, large retail groups that are considering new small shops down town, new formats and models of retail, etc.
“Meals taken out of the family home are increasing in number, and changing in quality. Fresh produce’s share of international world trade is rising.
“However, nutritionists, professionals and economists do not consider the concepts of quality and pleasure enough. This is one of the strengths of Rungis. A significant part of our business is in high-quality products, dedicated to the pleasure and satisfaction of our customers.
“Rungis really operates on a B2B2C model - we are a very specialised business, but we are aware of the activities of our clients, so in turn know what their clients think,” says Spielrein.
“We are more concerned than most with quality and pleasure. There is a big issue around the production and consumption of fruit and vegetables in most developed countries. The answer is usually to promote fresh produce on television and make it more accessible.
“However, I do not share this point of view. If you analyse consumption, you realise its slowdown is due to a generational effect. Consumers of 20-30 years old, who have been conditioned to eat less fruit and vegetables, are replacing 70-95-year-olds. In each age group, consumption of fruit and vegetables is stable, so actually the problem is that newcomers are not replacing older consumers.
“I think we must ask questions about the way we promote fruit and vegetables. The most usual way is to highlight their health benefits, which are certainly true - but teenagers don’t care about them. Therefore, the main emphasis is inadequate, considering the population we should address the campaign to, and that is a great mistake.
“So many professionals do not talk about the quality and pleasure of fruit and vegetables. Is the fruit in retail stores ripe enough? Is there enough sugar? If you poll European consumers about the quality of the fruit in store, the results are incredible. Around 75 per cent of shoppers go to the supermarkets because it is the easy option, but less than 20 per cent go because they are satisfied with the quality of the products.
“At Rungis, we have different values. We are very conscious of quality for the consumer. Our industry has a huge responsibility. Resumption of growth in consumption will not be a result of TV advertisements, but a strong effort of all the actors in the produce supply chain to bring tasty products to the consumer. It’s all part of our fight for some long-lasting values. We focus on ratio-price quality, segmentation and the pleasure of the consumer.”
As in every sector of the food industry, consolidation is an ongoing trend for wholesalers at Rungis, with plenty of small firms clubbing together to secure their economic future. More and more companies are also going into catering, and grouping together to organise direct deliveries to clients. “Neighbours are buying neighbours, and many small firms are coming together for economic interest. This is a phenomenon that has been happening for around 12 years,” says Stisi.
Some firms are also focusing increasingly on specialisation, as consumers across the globe start to explore new flavours. The number of exotic traders is on the rise, as is the amount of firms dealing in specialist mushrooms, mini legumes and dried fruit. While the controversial airfreight sticker in the UK has been designated to make consumers aware of their environmental footprint, the same message on products on display in the halls of Rungis - par avion - is actually something the traders take pride in, denoting the freshness of their produce.
“Food handlers at Rungis are trying to increase the amount of varieties they stock, stimulating the interest of the consumer with new varieties, traditions and product origins,” says Spielrein. “The story of a product is all part of the pleasure you get with food.”
Regional food production is therefore becoming an increasingly important trend for Rungis buyers, and local growers from the île de France region have operated from their own dedicated wholesale outlet in the midst of the fruit and veg halls for three years now. The Carreau des Producteurs (Producers’ Square) allows local producers to sell directly to clients, rather than to wholesalers. “This is really the pride of Rungis,” says Stisi.
The Carreau des Producteurs spans 4,400sqm, housing 82 market stalls. Sylvie Pasquet of salad grower EARL Beausse Marc, situated in the carreau, has been president of the Interdepartmental Association of Fruit and Vegetable Producers (AIDPFL) since March 2003. The interprofessional group liaised closely with producers and Semmaris to set up the new building.
“Many of the growers from the île de France are represented here,” says Pasquet. “The union has 200 members, and 82 have a base in the Carreau des Producteurs.”
Around 60-70 per cent of production in the île de France consists of salads, while the rest is made up of leeks, potatoes and other vegetables.
Having a dedicated site just 50km away from the growers’ production sites offers many advantages, says Pasquet. “We can cut product the evening before for the next day, or even in the morning, to sell on the same morning,” she explains. “It really works well being here. Beforehand we were in very simple buildings, but we worked very closely with the marketing arm of Semmaris, and now we have this new building, and actually more clients are coming to see us.”
Several large English buyers - for example, French Garden from London’s New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) - are regular visitors to Rungis, says Pasquet, and the Carreau des Producteurs is one of their most important stops. “The interest in the UK for French products is really increasing, and English chefs are looking for salads like ours,” she says. “The freshness is key - buyers from NCGM arrive, buy product that was picked one morning, and the next day it is on sale in London. We have to ensure we keep our quality and value high for our English customers.”
Stisi adds: “The carreau is like the window of Rungis. We wanted to really emphasise these high-quality products, and were also aware of the food miles issue and therefore the advantage of these growers being in the Parisian region. Around 80 per cent of the restaurateurs who come to Rungis visit the Carreau des Producteurs, because of its specialist products and high-quality goods.”
Officially known as the Marché International de Rungis, many of the firms based in the market have developed strong export businesses over the last few years, and are now seeking to expand their overseas operations. The proximity of the UK to France, and UK consumers’ growing interest in the provenance of their food, has made sending product across the Channel a natural target for many companies in the market - especially those handling fruit and vegetables. The appointment of Charles Davous from Semmaris at the end of last year as brand ambassador for Rungis in London, based at NCGM, has served to further strengthen the image of the Parisian market as a place of quality in the minds of UK buyers
Pasquet says: “We already had good links with the UK, but for other firms here, having Charles Davous as an ambassador in the UK will be very useful. It really gives the market the opportunity to diversify.”
Shaoul Abramczyk from fresh fruit and veg supplier Mandar, which operates from its own 14,000sqm building in Rungis, agrees. “The quality of produce here is just getting better and better, and the market is becoming increasingly international,” he says. “It is very interesting for us to be based here, and even when we relocated to our new building we stayed inside the perimeters of Rungis for the diversity of goods on offer here. The market has a very strong identity, and always gets good press.”
Alexia Charraire of Les Vergers St Eustache, a business which also operates from its own premises and sources produce from the wholesalers on the market, explains: “We are trying to develop the image of Rungis in the UK, and I think chefs in the UK now know the door is open for them to bring in product from France.”
The UK is a good example of Rungis trying to expand its customer base, but it is not the only overseas market where Semmaris is seeking new customers. “Charles has been very successful in London, and we are pleased with that,” says Spielrein. “We are trying to create a new business model and consider new targets in other countries. We think our customer base should be much larger than the geographical spread of Paris.”
Around 15 per cent of the turnover at Rungis is generated by export business, and that figure is increasing. One of these is China, which Spielrein believes is a very interesting market.
“The country’s consumption pattern is changing quickly, and there are now lots of middle-class and high-class consumers. Around 60m-70m Chinese people are travelling abroad each year, and in two years that figure will reach 100m. We have developed partnerships in China, especially in the south, which is an important production region and has a large population concentration. We also have contacts in northern China.”
So what next for Rungis? Many traders are developing shops with their own frontage, which Stisi believes is one way the market will develop in the future. One company has taken a one-stop-shop approach. Antoine Boucomont is owner of Le Delas, a unique service in Rungis and, he believes, in the whole of France.
Around 40 years ago the firm started handling prepared grocery products, such as charcuterie, preserves and frozen food, and last year decided it was time to introduce a fresh range as well, including fish, meat, poultry and fruit and vegetables.
“In the old days, people had more time to travel around Rungis to buy what they wanted, starting with fish, then meat, then fruit and veg, and then coming to us,” says Boucomont.
“However, the traffic in Paris is now so bad, and finding the right staff is so difficult, that our clients find they don’t always have enough time to do that any more.”
So Le Delas expanded significantly in April 2007, and is now the only company in Rungis providing a full range of products and services. The store doubled in size to house the changes.
“Clients visit us to save time,” says Boucomont. “This is a 24-hour operation. We deliver six days a week, both in and outside Paris, and also have a subsidiary in Nice.”
Le Delas also delivers to 45 other countries, with the UK number one after France. “We have around 50 UK clients, who are mainly wholesalers, including fruit and vegetable firms in NCGM,” says Boucomont.
“Our export business has now grown to 15 per cent of our overall turnover, without having any dedicated sales people for export,” he continues. “It has developed on its own because of the quality of our product range, and the varieties we have on offer.”
Making the transition from a prepared handler to a fresh one was difficult, says Boucomont, but not as hard as the company had feared. “We thought the best thing was to find the right specialists for each product. We thought the fruit and vegetable category would be the easiest fresh range to get right, but actually it has been the most difficult. We have reached the first step of a staircase with fruit and vegetables, whereas in fish and meat we have already climbed several steps.”
Spielrein welcomes the decision made by Le Delas to offer a highly extensive product range, feeling it adds yet another string to the market’s bow. “Companies can either be dedicated to specialising in one product channel, becoming a recognised expert in that field, or they can be oriented towards clients’ demands - and clients may want to have a large part of their supply needs under one roof.
“They are two different business models, but both are complementary and both are useful,” he says.
An ongoing concern for wholesale markets in the UK is that there is not enough new blood coming through to the business to keep it going. However, the same cannot be said of Rungis. “Wholesalers are mainly small- to medium-sized family enterprises, and we think firms in Rungis usually find successors in their families, or have employees who may buy the businesses,” says Spielrein. “I have been here for 14 years and have noticed that successors have been found, so the age problem is not significant.
“There is also a new generation of entrepreneurs coming through, graduates with studies in sales and marketing who have a different approach to the business.”
Rungis has a very important role to play in the future, says Spielrein. “This business is difficult and competitive, and globally margins are not very thick. But we have a lot of cards in our hand, and I am very optimistic.
“It is not easy from day to day, but Rungis has many things to tell its customers and suppliers, as we are recognised by the consumer and have many opportunities around the world. The response from the UK, for example, has been very encouraging.
“We have a great opportunity to provide all the fresh products in a single place, which is a great competitive advantage,” he adds.
FROM PARIS TO PRESTIGE
Twenty-four-hour operation Les Vergers St Eustache works with high-quality product, and has sent fruit to prestigious upmarket department store Harrods in London for the last few months. “We have four sales people, with around 100 clients each,” says sales person Alexia Charraire.
“We have three buyers who go and source product from Rungis itself, and over the last three to four years we have worked hard to develop direct relationships with small producers in France.
“The chefs who buy from us demand very high-quality product. Some chefs want product all year round, whereas others, especially those with Michelin stars, really understand the seasonality of fruit and veg.”
The firm handles a huge range of products, covering tomatoes - including heritage varieties such as Coeur de Boeuf and Noire de Crimée, direct from a supplier in Provence - citrus, berries, top fruit, exotic lines such as avocados, pineapples, melons, carambolas, passionfruit, coconut, fresh almonds, kumquat, plantains, sweet potatoes, fresh ginger and a wide selection of vegetables including salads, mushrooms, brassicas and asparagus, as well as hand-prepared fruit baskets, edible flowers and fresh herbs.
“Harrods has the same quality demands and interest in new lines that our French chef clients do. Price is really not a concern for them,” says Charraire.
Les Vergers St Eustache’s sister company, Charraire, specialises in the UK market, supplying a network of restaurants in London.
SPECIALISATION KEY FOR MANDAR
Mandar was created in 1973 as a family business, with the aim of selecting and distributing fruits and vegetables for high-end catering. The business was established in a small shop on the rue Mandar in Paris, in the old Les Halles market site. At the start of the 1980s, the company moved to Rungis, and now operates from a new building measuring 14,000sqm.
The company’s Shaoul Abramczyk says: “Slowly but surely we enlarged our customer base to include restaurant groups and hotel chains, always focused on the side of quality catering.
“We decided to expand into supplying retail chains, so developed a specialisation in fresh-cut fruit, fresh fruit juices and fresh herbs, the latter sourced from more than 240 growers across the world.”
The company employs 200 people and generates a consolidated turnover of €55 million (£43.8m).
The firm operates four subsidiaries: Halles Mandar and Halles Orly Sud, which send product to gastronomic restaurants, the hotel trade, commercial and company catering; and Solanes and Colas & Cie, which deal with the wholesale trade. The company buys a certain amount of its stock from Rungis. E-commerce also forms a vital tenet of Mandar’s business.
“We chose to work with herbs because one of our chef clients came to us and said he could only find fresh herbs three months a year,” says Abramczyk. “So we started looking at different sources etc, and today we handle 1,400 tonnes of fresh herbs a year, mainly from Israel, but also from France and Morocco.”
Mandar works with cash & carry specialist Macro in the UK. “The London market is very dynamic, but the brand of Mandar is not that well known over there yet, and we would like that to change. We have a lot of marketing to do to penetrate the UK further,” says Abramczyk.
Around 10 per cent of Mandar’s turnover comes from its export business, of which two per cent is accounted for by the UK, six per cent by Germany, and two per cent by overseas destinations such as the Seychelles and Dubai.
PARIS AIL TARGETS UK
Paris Ail supplies potatoes, garlic, onions and shallots from its Rungis base. “We export garlic to the UK, working with both wholesalers and importers,” says manager Patrick Flin, above.
CARREAU PERFECT PLATFORM FOR THE PASQUETS
Husband-and-wife team Sylvie and Marc Pasquet, pictured, run EARL Beausse Marc in Rungis’s Carreau des Producteurs, or Producers’ Square.
“There is a big market in the UK for the baby leaf products we grow, and it’s increasing,” says Marc Pasquet. “While traditional salad lines seem to be decreasing in popularity by 30 per cent each year, sales of baby leaves are growing by 30 per cent year on year. That’s the trend we are seeing.”
EARL Beausse Marc has sent to the UK for 22 years, and along with Belgium and Germany, the country accounts for a significant portion of its turnover - export accounts for 35 per cent, and 60 per cent of that is to the UK.
SELECTING THE BEST
Wholesaler Paris Select focuses on high-quality, niche products, selecting particular varieties with an emphasis on seasonality and regionality. “We choose varieties highly adapted to the area they are grown in,” says manager Didier Ioli, above. “Competition in produce is very fierce, but having a niche sector makes things slightly easier. We have really tried to differentiate ourselves.”
The company, founded in 1976, sources all its products by telephone - so a good relationship with its suppliers is vital.
UK buyers, including clients from New Covent Garden Market and Harrods, visit Paris Select three times a week. “We also send to Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain,” says Ioli.
“The future for us is to continue focusing on niche lines. Even though it can be tough, we have accepted we need to stock different things to sell more volume.”
NICHE STRATEGY VITAL FOR BUTET
Mushroom and mini vegetable firm Butet was founded in 1912.
“We have worked with the UK for 12 years,” says the company’s Pierre Scaglia, pictured. “We send to Harrods, wholesalers and importers. We export 25 per cent of our product, and the UK accounts for 70 per cent of this.
“It is an interesting market, allowing us to explore supplying new products. Selling niche products is our strategy, and we are thinking of setting up a direct delivery business as well.”
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