Subiaco-based olive oil marketer Piquant Blue Ltd has announced its first major US supermarket account, with leading US retail chain Albertson's Inc.
Subiaco-based olive oil marketer Piquant Blue Ltd has announced its first major US supermarket account, with leading US retail chain Albertson's Inc.
The deal will initially see Piquant Blue, Australia's largest olive oil sales and marketing group, sell its supermarket brand olive oil, redisland, in Albertson's 500 outlets across California.
Albertson's Inc. is one of the five largest food and drug retailing groups in the US, with 2,500 stores spread across several retail names and has annual revenues of approximately $52.6 billion.
The first shipments of redisland, which was launched locally in mid 2004, are scheduled for delivery in June.
Piquant Blue managing director Andrew Konowalous said the company was on track to achieve its interim target of 2,500 stores selling redisland in the States.
"Our US roll out is based on achieving success on a regional basis first, then engaging with nationwide accounts. In line with this strategy, we're currently negotiating agreements with other significant US retail customers across our three key regions," he said.
In addition to California, Piquant Blue's target regions are the south east and the north east of USA, which accounts for 33 per cent of the olive oil spend in the USA.
In Australia, Piquant Blue's redisland brand is the number one Australian brand of extra virgin olive oil and sells in approximately 1,900 supermarkets through Woolworths/Safeway, Coles/BiLo and the Metcash network.
The company has plans to build a $1 million distribution plant in Melbourne to handle its anticipated overseas growth.
The push into the US has been aided by a set of favourable circumstances.
Europe, the key global olive producer with 1.5 billion tress (compared with the eight million in Australia) has had three successive poor seasons due to frost and drought. This has resulted in price rises for olive oil of around 40 per cent, which has led US buyers in search of alternative suppliers.
The Free Trade Agreement signed between Australia and the US in January 2005 also has had an effect, with tariffs and trade barriers between the two countries effectively removed. As a result, the only significant cost for Piquant Blue as it enters the US market is that associated with transport.
With a continuing eye to the future Mr Konowalous and his team are pursuing further offshore growth.
"We already have a presence in Sweden, and have touched Hong Kong with gourmet distribution and will now roll-out to supermarkets there," he said.
"The UK is our next big step, and with the import tariff system that applies in Europe, our distribution model will have to be very tight to over come it."
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Piquant Blue signs sales deal with major US supermarket chain
Piquant Blue Limited (ASX Code: PQB), Australia's largest olive oil sales and marketing company, today announced it had secured its first major US supermarket account with leading US retail chain, Albertson's Inc. Under the terms of the deal, Piquant Blue will initially sell its supermarket brand redislandTM in all 500 Albertson's outlets across California.
Albertson's Inc., one of the five largest food and drug retailing groups in the US, has 2,500 stores across several retail banners and annual revenues of approximately US$40Bn. It operates across the nation with its largest concentration of stores in the state of California.
The first shipments of redislandTM are scheduled for delivery in June, and Piquant Blue advises it can satisfy opening orders using inventory forwarded to the USA in anticipation of this significant corporate event.
Piquant Blue's Managing Director, Andrew Konowalous said the company is on track to achieve its interim target of 2,500 stores selling redislandTM in the States.
"Our US roll out is based on achieving success on a regional basis first, then engaging with nationwide accounts. In line with this strategy, we're currently negotiating agreements with other significant US retail customers across our three key regions," said Mr Konowalous.
In addition to California, Piquant Blue's target regions are the south east and the north east of USA (which accounts for 33% of the olive oil spend in the USA).
In Australia, Piquant Blue's redislandTM brand is the number one Australian brand of extra virgin olive oil and sells in approximately 1,900 supermarkets through Woolworths/Safeway, Coles/BiLo and the Metcash network.
About PQB:
PQB was listed on ASX in January 2004 with the specific objective of providing a marketing platform for Australian extra virgin olive oil and related products. PQB has, since its formation in early 2003, established sound credentials in the international olive oil market for its range of olive oils and its innovative marketing approach. PQB focuses exclusively on the marketing segment of the value chain. PQB has formed strategic alliances to secure supply and distribution into key markets.
