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"We airfreight over 25 tons of cut-fruit per day from South Africa to the UK”

Supplying the fresh ready-to-eat cut-fruits and vegetables to what are considered two premium retailers, Marks & Spencer in the United Kingdom and Woolworths in South Africa, takes nearly 10,000 people, mostly women, from the company In2Food to prepare daily. They prepare by hand over 3,700 tons of pineapple, 7,580 tons of watermelon and 4,412 tons of mango per year, at one of the company's facilities in South Africa. They use seasonal fruit such as watermelon, pineapples, mango and citrus, grown in South Africa, and import mango from Brazil and other African countries.

Nerina Hopkins, Manager of Produce and Juice for In2Food, "We focus on the best varieties to get the best product, that's our point of difference. We prepare the fruit daily, it flies overnight and gets into the UK depot the next day and will be on the shelves in the Marks & Spencer store within two days. During our peak season, we airfreight over 25 tons of cut fruit per day. We have dedicated growers for our seedless watermelon, Green Melon and Orange melon. We have three melon growers in the North, one in the Eastern Cape and one in the Western Cape. The Eastern Cape farmer grows 110 ha of watermelons. Recently, we've also introduced yellow watermelon for the second season."

Focus on seasonal fruit
Emma Schoeman, category head for produce at In2Food, who hails from the UK and is now settled in South Africa, "We receive pineapple year round, from KwaZulu-Natal. We focus on seasonal fruit. In the winter we'll switch to papaya and citrus fruit, then we'll switch to berries if we have it in season. For vegetables, butternut is huge for us, it is South Africa's favourite vegetable. Our two vegetable processing facilities in Strand, Cape Town and Bonaero Park in Johannesburg process around 1,700 tons of butternut per annum. The scale of the company is huge and world-class, including the quality of the fruit and vegetables from South Africa."

This close collaboration between In2Food and their concentrated network of growers ensures that the latest varieties are selected, trailed, farmed and eventually reach the shelves to meet the ever-changing consumer needs in South Africa and the UK. In2Food contracts directly with growers, who grow specifically for them in the different regions, they also use a mix of other fruit such as table grapes kiwi fruit etc.

The company has nine sites across South Africa, with four in Gauteng and five in the Western Cape Province. "We have over a thousand different products from cut fruit to prepared salads, prepared vegetables, fresh juice, prepared meals, ready to cook soups, prepared soups, deli and party foods. We have a grocery and baking business too, as well as fish products and pickled fish.

Given the climate and other risks in the different growing areas, especially in South Africa, the In2Food team say they are open to talk to more growers. "Of course we're always looking for new growers to extend the season, to mitigate the risk etc."

Seeing opposite effect of SA ports inefficiency
As the rest of South Africa's export fruit sector feel the effect of slow and ineffective ports to reach world markets, In2Food are at the other end with their incoming fruit also delayed at huge cost. "It's challenging importing fruit as well, especially mango. This season we made the decision to airfreight instead of relying on shipping, because every year we have losses due to the delay. Last year, we lost two containers worth of mangoes due to the delays at the port," states Hopkins.

Big focus on new varieties of fruit and vegetables
"We attend field days of seed companies around the world like Spain and Israel and visit breeders in the U.S. There they have up to 50 different varieties. We taste based on flavour and texture and assess all the growth conditions. We select varieties with potential and then bring it to South Africa to trial here. Because we cut fruit, there are a lot of other factors we need to take into account. It takes about three to five years to get a new variety approved to use," states Hopkins.

In2Food owns a strawberry farm in Brits that supplies them with fruit from April to October, when they also supply the rest of the country during that window. "They do variety development, the Florida Pearl white strawberries sold in Woolworths is an example. Innovation is an important part of our business. We launch over 50 new products annually, keeping products fresh and on trend. We want to lead the market."

Responding to latest consumer trends
In2Food had a booth at Fruit Attraction 2024 in Madrid for the first time, to showcase their range of fresh cut solutions and offering to the rest of Europe and the world. "Health is an ongoing trend, that's why our business is so successful. We provide healthy solutions to consumers. Consumers are conscious of sugar content even natural sugars in fruit, gut health continues to be important and more recently nootropics," concludes Hopkins and Schoeman.

For more information:
Nerina Hopkins
In2Food
[email protected]
www.in2food.co.za