Food fit for kings Merian Foods

FOOD FIT FOR KINGS

In Hungary, poultry processing Merian Foods Kft has always been a leader in product development: more than three decades ago they were the first to offer tinned goose liver and poultry frankfurters in vacuumed packaging for consumers. Due to their high quality branded products, the company has successfully achieved a premium market position in the domestic market and is now exploring the possibilities of greater export sales. Edina Beale investigates.

The poultry processing industry in Orosháza, Hungary began more than 100 years ago. Following in the footsteps of its predecessors, Merian Foods Kft began its operations in November 2009 when it purchased the local poultry processing factory.

Merian was the first among the Hungarian poultry processing companies to introduce branded products. Their Rex Ciborum brand – meaning ‘king’s food, the king of food’ in Latin - is a trademark for goose and duck liver products and these are known as luxury products in both the domestic and international markets. The ORSI product range includes a wide variety of products such as frankfurters, pate, cold cuts, ham products and tinned products, available in many different flavours, sizes and packaging.

Merian puts great emphasis on quality and developing new products. Ensuring that existing products are to a consistently high standard and meet the expectations of their customers is a major consideration. However, development of new products plays an important part in the company’s success with a number of new products being launched every year.

In addition to the traditionally smoked and processed premium frankfurters, the ORSI Grillsli product range is a new category but the Rex Ciborum product range is also continuously being extended. The latest innovations, such as the fatted goose liver in five different flavours stored in buckled jars, or the flavoured goose and duck liver terrine stored in screw topped and buckled jars have received a warm welcome from consumers. Maintaining market share

Marketing and export sales manager, Mr Endre Kovács explains the company’s strategy to stay competitive. “Our partners in Hungary include international hard discount stores, and international and domestic chains that operate hypermarkets. As multinational companies close cooperation with these customers is essential to maintain and increase our market share. We are continuously aiming to acquire new markets, to meet requirements both in quantity and in quality, and to maintain and extend our firm customer base.

“We support the sales of our products by continuous discount offers in many varieties of forms including leaflets, newspaper ads, tasting and discounts based on quantity. Of course, during 2013 we experienced a

reduction of consumer demand and this affected the quantity of goods we sold. But we were determined to maintain our stable market position by providing quality goods, and we believe that apart from small changes there was no significant reduction. Apart from our branded products, we produce private label products for our partners too. Our product development is mainly based on the requirements of our trading partners; however, we sometimes experiment with developing our own new recipes.”

Currently the annual production of processed products stands at 6000 tonnes, and Merian products can be found in most European countries despite the fact that at present only 4 per cent of the production is exported. Merian is determined to increase exports to a much higher percentage and work is underway to improve export sales. Mr Kovács says: “The company introduced its premium products into Russia two years ago and the interest in them has been gradually increasing in this new market. There is also great potential in the Far East, predominantly in Japan and in Hong Kong. An exciting development is the promising feedback we have received about our intention to launch our products in the Arabic countries including the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.”

In recent times the company has improved the technology and efficiency of its production resources and these investments were financed from within the company. Currently Merian is conducting development projects to improve the efficiency of its cooling technology and also to reduce noise levels. In addition to this, the company conducts continuous maintenance and makes small and large investments in order to meet the stringent health and safety regulations and to strictly adhere to the environmental requirements.

Future prospects

Mr Kovács outlines the company’s future objectives: “Our future opportunities are decisively determined by our position as a supplier and as a trading company and by the environmental factors. The key to increasing our market share is to maintain our traditional markets whilst acquiring new market segments, to develop international sales and to maintain the

flexibility and efficiency of our plant. Based on market demand, we aim to create and operate an optimal production structure whilst totally satisfying the needs of our consumer.”

Merian Foods Kft has taken a steady approach in these difficult times. Managing to improve production facilities without the need for loans, maintaining their domestic market by introducing new products and exploring the possibilities of greater export sales have enabled the company to preserve their position as a premium supplier to their customers. Ambitious plans to infiltrate new markets in the Middle and Far East are already in an advanced state with the initial results showing promise. Merian Foods Kft looks ready to expand its already significant operations. n

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