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Bel Foodservice
Bel Foodservice operates two
businesses in Europe, including
a catering activity aimed at the
institutional and commercial
catering segments, and the P.A.I.
(intermediary food products)
business, which sells Bel cheese
brands to Europe’s food industry
and fast food chains.
In 2011, nutritional initiatives
were furthered in the catering
sector, with the launch of a new
The Laughing Cow ® recipe with 19.5%
less fat content, the introduction of
vitamin D-enriched versions of the
Cantadou ® and Cantafrais ® brands,
and even the launch of a newsletter
aimed at dieticians in France.
As for new products, three new
references were added to the
Boursin ® ingredient range.
P.A.I.’s partners continued to show
their interest in Bel’s brands as a
way to set themselves apart from
the competition and to create value.
This was illustrated by the year’s
product launches, which included
ready-meal maker Fleury Michon ® ’s
Boursin ® and The Laughing Cow ®
lunchboxes, fast-food chain Quick ® ’s
Cheesy au Boursin ® and McDonald’s ®
burger with Maredsous ® cheese.
After several tough
years in Eastern
Europe, efforts to
streamline production and
adapt product ranges to
national markets began to bear
fruit, with the region reporting
double-digit sales volume
growth in 2011. Well anchored
national brands such as Shotska ®
in Ukraine and Karicka ® in
Slovakia performed very well,
but the growth of Bel’s core
brands — a priority for Bel in
Eastern European markets —
was even more spectacular.
The event of the year in
the region was the launch of
The Laughing Cow ® in Ukraine,
with strong market penetration.
The Group also began
successfully marketing Kiri ® and
The Laughing Cow ® in Rumania
with very encouraging results.
But because weak purchasing
power in these markets often
makes it impossible to fully
pass on higher cost prices to
consumers, great care must
be taken to ensure tight cost
controls, while maintaining
product quality.
EASTERN EUROPE
”The core brands
remain the priority,
in particular
The Laughing Cow ® .”
Bruno Schoch,
Deputy General Manager
In 2011, national brands, which
benefit from a recognition base
that can be further developed,
were strengthened, notably the
Gervais range of fresh cheeses
in the Czech Republic.
However, the priority remains
the Group’s core brands,
particularly The Laughing Cow ®
in Ukraine to build on its
successful launch, and
Leerdammer ® in the Czech
Republic and Slovakia, where
the brand matches up well
with consumer tastes and
is growing. This strategy will
be continued in 2012.
€103
million in sales
in 2011
Bel Group 2011 • 9