Summary:
Created in 1998, the company from southern France is known for its patented nebulisation system to maintain fresh products cool. They also further innovated in the design and installation of IoT devices (for predictive food management via AI) for fresh product sections. They have few direct clients (supermarkets) in the EU (Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal) but are interested to find reliable partners for distribution and maintenance for their clients under a distribution services agreement.
Description:
As main products, the SME offers nebulisation solutions for the fresh products sections of food stores. Fresh products are mainly fruits and vegetables, sea food, meat and cheese. Compliant with the current international standards and certifications, nebulisation is a technological innovation that fragments water via a piezoelectric system to create an extremely fine mist. This allows supermarkets to make sure products are preserved under the right temperature and humidity conditions.
The company was created in 1998 in southern France with its first nebulisation solutions patented in 1994. The SME became the world leader in customised solutions aiming at better promoting and managing fresh products sections in supermarkets whilst reducing food waste.
The company has a strong innovative component based on a design office and an R&D center that are conducting tailor-made studies for the cold chain of each client. The SME registered 27 patents and 9 designs with its solutions.
The SME is constantly innovating in the design and installation of tailor-made solutions for the smart management and promotion of fresh products' sections in supermarkets. It therefore offers cooling plates, fresh herb modules and refrigerated palox.
The SME has currently more than 4500 active clients which are mainly food supermarkets and hypermarkets. These clients are served by 100 employees with 40 dedicated experts. The SME expanded internationally over time since it has two subsidiaries: one in North America and another in the Pacific region. It is also present in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Tunisia, Russia, Chile, Canada and Benelux. In the EU countries, the company already has direct clients. Nevertheless, serving them from France does limit the expansion of these clients and the acquisition of new ones. The maintenance services are also limited when the company does not have a subsidiary.
In this context, the company is interested to find a partner responsible for both the distribution and the maintenance of the products for the existing clients but also for new ones. The company would give priority to the EU markets where it is already selling, such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, Benelux. The company would be interested in a partner which is already considered as furniture or service providers for fresh product sections in supermarkets. The objective is to sign a distribution services agreement with all partners.
Type (e.g. company, R&D institution…), field of industry and Role of Partner Sought:
The partner sought would be ideally in charge of managing a client's portfolio and acquiring new clients for the company's products. Its distribution network should be comprised of hyper- and supermarkets (retailers) in a specific region/country. The partner should be ideally identified as provider by the main retail chains and work on fresh food sections.
The partner is expected to have a consistent team including technical experts in order to perform the installation and the maintenance of the sold equipments.
The partner should also have a sales team that would be trained on the products in order to acquire new clients.
Technical Specification or Expertise Sought:
The expertise sought would be to work under distribution and maintenance services.
Stage of Development:
Already on the market
IPR Status:
Design Rights,Patents granted,Trade Marks
Comments Regarding IPR Status:
27 patents and 9 designs registered
External code:
BOFR20210722001
