CAVALIER GROUP
Farming for the Future
PRODUCTION: Jamie Waters
A fully-integrated, vertical red meat value chain, since 1998 Cavalier Group has been realising its vision to bring only the best meat to South Africa’s tables. Specialists in everything from the procurement to packing and distribution of the highest-quality beef and lamb products, “everything we do centres around bringing meat eaters the very best, from farm to fork,” sets out CEO LJ Viviers.
INDUSTRY FOCUS: AGRICULTURE
//Cavalier Group (Cavalier) operates a fully integrated red meat value chain with a national footprint, specialising in the procurement, feed lotting, slaughter, packing, processing and finally distribution of beef, lamb
// PRODUCING IMPECCABLE QUALITY MEAT FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S MEAT LOVERS IS SOMETHING THAT WE PRIDE
and pork products. Its overarching mission is to create the shortest and most cost-effective route for the freshest red meat products directly from farm to fork, centred around its core values of quality, efficiency, teamwork and integrity.
“Here, we believe in quality, and in the integrity of our products, striving to bring nothing but the very best to your plate,” Cavalier Group stresses. “We always serve only the best quality that we can source from the farms right until it’s on your table. Producing impeccable quality meat for all of our meat lovers in South Africa is something that we pride ourselves deeply on.
to do more with less, while making every effort to ensure that all of our meat is of a quality that is unmatchable; this is our first and foremost principle, with no compromise.”
VERTICAL CHAIN
Today, the Cavalier Group delivers superior product and service via eight integrated companies, details CEO LJ Viviers. “It all starts with Cavalier Livestock,” he begins, “where our team of industry experts works hand in hand with the best farmers in South Africa and feedlots that adhere to the most stringent animal welfare protocols and modern rearing programmes, to
OURSELVES ON // Continues on page 6
“As life-long students of learning, a core pillar of efficiency drives us to strive
LJ Viviers, CEO
Elevating people.
Elevating business.
Elevating society.
Guiding growth, elevating business
BDO and Cavalier have been partners since 2017. BDO provides expert auditing to support tomorrow’s agro-processing innovations. The Cavalier group is a leader in this sector. Our relationship is built on our joint obsessions with clarity, quality and exceptional client service. Cavalier benefits from:
X Long-term partnership – consistent auditing support enables the Cavalier Group to maintain the highest standards of financial integrity and compliance, which is crucial for ongoing expansion and operational success
X Strategic investment support – when a significant investment of approximately R50 million was made in energy solutions for the business, BDO ensured the required financial due diligence
X Expert industry knowledge and guidance – BDO understands the particular challenges and opportunities the agriculture sector faces in South Africa and tailors solutions accordingly
X Future-focused strategies – BDO is always looking beyond the immediate to what will assist our clients in the long term
X Risk management – agriculture is no stranger to risk: climate change, drought, flood, exchange fluctuations, regulations – and BDO can advise in that context.
Experience the BDO difference in auditing – visit our website to see how our expertise can elevate your business into the future.
To view our latest facts and figures scan the code
www.bdo.co.za
INDUSTRY FOCUS: AGRICULTURE
Continued from page 4
raise healthy and happy animals.
“We have livestock agents across the country, that procure both the beef and lamb processed through our supply chain with not only quality, but also sustainability, at the fore,” he
// CAVALIER FOODS IS SYNONYMOUS WITH QUALITY, WITH EVERY PACK PRODUCED WITH UNPARALLELED CARE AND CONSIDERATION
//
furthers, “and our countrywide trading house deals in all different categories of production animals such as goats and sheep, as well,” he says, adding that Cavalier has, too, its own lamb feedlot, which ensures year-round supply without any compromise to quality.
“Cavalier Feeders has its own in-house feed factory and is purposebuilt to add final growth to lamb before entering the meat production chain,” Viviers explains, “which is situated on Boekenhout Farm just outside of Pretoria and houses 20,000 head of sheep. Our dedicated in-house team, working with industry experts, assures the very best possible feed and care for each lamb, guaranteeing their wellbeing and health.
“Under constant supervision, the growth of our lambs is continuously monitored to achieve a tender, great-
tasting product with the minimum possible impact on our planet.”
The next stage of the allencompassing value chain is the Cavalier Abattoirs, Viviers goes on, possessing slaughter capacity of 300 cattle and some 2,700 sheep per day. “The slaughter systems that we have implemented at our three abattoirs - two sheep and one cattle, housed on the same premises as our packaging factories and feedlot - are state-of-the-art, and we place top priority on the lasting product integrity and unparalleled shelflife of carcasses and primal cuts.
“Our commitment to the welfare of animals continues here; we employ only the best and most humane and stress-free practices
Continues on page 8
INDUSTRY FOCUS: AGRICULTURE
Continued from page 6
in the processing of each animal.
“The process then moves into its final steps of retail packing. We operate three retail packing facilities in Cullinan, where we produce retail packed lamb, beef, pork and biltong for one of South Africa’s leading retailers. This represents around 50% of our business. We also retail pack salami in Germiston and produce beef patties for Burger King and Spur in a dedicated factory in Cape Town. Like our partners, Cavalier is synonymous with quality, echoed through our promise to
customers in every pack produced with unparalleled care and consideration.
“Innovative packaging and processing equipment, combined with our team of expert butchers, has long seen Cavalier an industry leader in retail-packed protein and globally competitive beef and lamb primal cuts.”
COMBATTING CHALLENGE
“Having the whole chain within our stable is a key differentiator,” Viviers opines of a vertically-integrated value chain which is economically sustainable, environmentally-conscious and people-orientated. “Also setting us
apart is that we go into the premium markets in South Africa,” Viviers underlines. “We offer farmers a unique channel for their product, from both a beef and a lamb perspective.”
Cavalier Group also owns and runs an arm of around 35 butcheries situated within our retail partner. “Even though this represents a small portion of the business,” Viviers says, “it gives us a unique opportunity to access that elusive final link of the vertical chain and gives us direct interaction with, and feedback from, consumers,” he relates. “It allows us to see when things are successful, and then operationalise them on a much larger scale.”
Load shedding has been a preoccupation for businesses and industries across South Africa, but as Viviers points out, has been arguably most keenly felt by organisations where
Powering Projects, Energizing Futures with Expert Engineering
We provide engineering services for the power sector focusing on:
Renewable Energies Medium and High Voltage Power Systems Building Electrical Services Industrial Plant System Optimization Mining Sector Distribution Systems
keeping products cool and fresh 24/7 is primordial, and entails very high energy consumption. “To combat the impact of this,” Viviers counters, “we have invested in the region of R50 million in alternative energy, in particular solar panels and battery systems. Harnessing the African sun, huge parts of our factories are now powered by solar, and as a company we are stepping up to mitigate, and counteract, whatever carbon footprint and environmental impact may arise from our operations.
“In spite of the prevailing challenges, we have managed to sustain our growth throughout, and are currently busy with three key expansions,” Viviers reveals. “One is at our biltong factory in Cullinan, as well as a substantial expansion of our Germiston salami plant, while we are building a whole new
factory in the Western Cape for pork and pork-related products.”
“We have been fortunate to have seen growth and opportunities come our way in the face of the many challenges our industry, and our competitors, have faced.” The current expansions are set to give Cavalier Group a pipeline of growth spanning the next couple of years, Viviers explains, “and then it is all about optimising and growing, seizing more and more opportunities, which we come across even in tough times, to grow further within the country.
“Cavalier Group has known right from the beginning that, in order to achieve in our bid to bring the best meat via the shortest, most efficient end-to-end red meat value chain in South Africa, the grass-roots development of procurement and
production disciplines would be required,” Viviers sums up, “based on proven international best practice but tailored to the unique Southern African industry and all of the opportunities, and challenges, which it presents.
“From land to table, Cavalier Group has established itself as a market leader in all sectors of the meat value stream through our peerless subsidiaries, each specialising in its own value-adding process to seamlessly deliver the best quality meat in the country.”
