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Shoppers are stocking up and emptying the shelves of writers/Ruben Castro
"Competing with a big player or a well-known local brand is very difficult to impossible"' Green via/green vie
At the end of December, Reut and Kanin, the owner and CEO of the NeoBrand food import company, planned to launch in Israel an extensive vegan cheese series of the Greek brand Green Vie. "The launch was supposed to be a very big celebration.
We planned an experiential activity in the branches, but the situation in Israel didn't allow it, and we weren't able to do it either in our personal experience," she says.
"We made the adjustments, lowered our profile a bit, did something less noisy and happy, and in the end, in February, the products reached the shelves of the chains.
This was also quite a risk, because we really live from day to day, and at any moment another arena may open up here."
Being an importer in Israel, Mabhira and Kanin, is a daily risk. "The war also met us in preparations for Hanukkah," she says. "We are very large importers of donuts and donuts.
In normal times, Hanukkah begins for us in October, immediately after the end of the Tishrei holidays.
This year only in December somehow we felt like it was a holiday.
We were held with large supplies like every year, with a campaign, activities at the festival.
We are there every year, and this year it just wasn't there.
Sales fell compared to last year.
We were hit because Hanukkah was hardly felt."
Vakanin (43), a resident of Moshav Gilat in the northern Negev, manages the company together with Mor Atias, her life partner. They founded the company in 2017 after retiring from previous positions in the food sector as employees. She was a brand manager in the division Marketing at Asem and Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Wilipod, where she also met Atias. Today, he is more in charge of trade and logistics, and she is mainly busy with marketing and business development. "But of course we manage together and the selection of products is shared," emphasizes Vakanin.
What motivated Do you want to become independent in the field?
"In 2017, the import reform was at its peak.
Everyone thought and planned how they would import, both large manufacturers in Israel and retailers.
It gained a lot of momentum.
Moore and I left Willipod and thought that this openness to imports could be an opportunity for us.
In the beginning, the thought was to help and bring added value to manufacturers, to retailers.
In the first years, we provided services to large companies, among other things, we answered their need to sometimes change lines, to copy lines from local production to production abroad because it is more efficient and profitable there. We also helped large companies in product development. If it took them a long time to develop a product because of various bureaucracies , so we would know how to do it very quickly."
"Being an importer in Israel is a daily risk"/green vie
We broke big
During the corona epidemic, the company of Vaknin and Atias changed direction.
"When the epidemic started, all our customers at that time gathered at their core, the 'Core Business'. They were less concerned with innovation, with development. There was a slowdown and a break in the services we gave them, and then we said this is our opportunity to reinvent ourselves and break out in a big way with brands we already knew from To.
In 2021-2020 it was our time to plan, and then we broke out with brands like Zero Candy - sugar-free candies.
We imported the original Milka and Oreo donuts -.
Then we imported gluten-free breakfast cereals and a series of gluten-free pizzas from the Crisp brand, and also the Italian pasta brand Farabella.
In 2023, the Tiny Donuts brand arrived, and now we are launching the Green Vie brand - over 20 types of vegan cheese."
How do you decide what to import?
"We survey the market, constantly learning which categories are growing and interesting, and to which categories we can bring added value .
Our advantage as a small and nimble company is that we can more quickly enter the type of categories that larger players would take longer to enter due to internal bureaucracies and processes.
We mainly enter niche products, most of which we import from Europe.
Niche products are the added value of a company like ours compared to large companies, which often do not pay to enter these niches."
Give an example.
"For example, when we imported the gluten-free pizzas, everyone raised an eyebrow, they said: 'This is a niche.'
Today it is one of our best selling products.
But I assume that if you ask a large company, they will tell you that it is not profitable for them to get into it.
The reason is that with the inputs and resources that a large company invests, they will not receive and enjoy the returns as I will enjoy them in a small company."
Were there any products that you imported that fell off the shelves?
"As mentioned, we are always looking for added value.
We will not bring basic goods, we will not enter canned goods, rice, etc.
We also had two unsuccessful attempts.
We imported Oreo and Milka brand frozen muffins, which were very high quality but very expensive.
In the end, the product has to be accessible, it has to be sold.
There was also a snack that we imported, a product for which the
major players could bring greater added value than us."
Kosher that makes sure to separate milk and meat. The series includes a wide variety of more than 20 vegan cheeses from different categories, including cheeses for everyday consumption (Greek-style feta, mozzarella, gouda), and also special vegan cheeses (for example, Parmesan style, Manchego truffle , in the style of blue cheese, cheddar, Camembert.) Also, in the series are spreads, sauces and delicatessen products by weight.
Reut and Kanin, a food importer.
"The next step - development related to fish substitutes, tuna and salmon substitutes"/Imajart
"limited variety"
"According to Stornext data for 2023, the milk substitutes market in Israel is estimated at approximately NIS 607 million per year. Since 2018, the milk substitutes market has registered a growth of 118%," Vaknin says.
"The solids segment (tofu, soy and cheeses) in the category of milk substitutes is estimated at NIS 156 million in 2023, which means that the market for milk substitutes is mainly led by the world of beverages, as for example offered by Tnuva and Strauss. On the other hand, when it comes to cheese substitutes - the variety is still limited".
And you decided to enter this niche.
"We saw as mentioned in Israel that the growth in milk substitute drinks is crazy, that there is an openness. I myself, by the way, am a 'reducer' who uses these drinks. Since we found that there is not enough supply in the world of cheese substitutes, we started looking abroad.
The brand we found seemed very interesting in terms of variety and taste, it had very special products, not just a substitute for the basic cheese.
GreenVie Foods has three factories in Thessaloniki.
A year ago we started the move with them.
At first they were very skeptical.
Mainly what stressed them was the issue of kashrut.
They said it would probably require special developments from them, changes.
In the end it required very few changes.
We worked there together with kosher supervisors, and in the end we were able to bring the products kosher to Beit Yosef. As soon as we passed the kosher challenge, we worked on the initial portfolio for the launch. In preparation for Shavuot, we will expand the basket of products. Also, there is already phase B in the pipeline - related development For fish substitutes, tuna and salmon substitutes".
"The growth in milk substitute drinks is crazy"/green vie
"Dealing with regulation"
Since the products were launched, Vaknin says, "the feedback is amazing. Even the retailers who have already seen everything and know everything, were very surprised and loved this series. The products are now available in almost all the chains, and soon it will be possible to order them at the 'Wallet Market' to your home."
Another good news, Vaknin points out, is the fact that the vegan cheeses are sold not only in packages in the refrigerators, but also by weight in the deli.
"It hasn't been until now," she says.
"Shuppersel launched a vegan deli where they offer a variety of Green Vie vegan cheeses by weight. Now you can ask for 100 grams of mozzarella or gouda-style vegan cheese to be spread for you."
The vegan delicacies can be found in the first phase at Shufersal Deal branches in Gilolit Ramat Hasharon, Tirat HaCarmel, Netanya Polg, Petah Tikva, Karmiel and Nes Ziona.
In the future, more vegan delicatessens will be opened in Shufersal branches throughout the country.
"We arrived at Shufersal with this whole move of importing the brand," says Vaknin.
"At Shufersal, they were very interested in it, they also recognized the need to raise the world of vegan cheeses, and especially this story of the deli. It was entirely their initiative. They invested and created a separate vegan deli, with hermetically separated and sealed, separate layout equipment. The goal is to expand This is in terms of branches and products. They are the first to come out with the vegan delicatessen. I would very much like more chains to take up the gauntlet and establish vegan delicatessens."
Small importers, Vaknin says, have quite a few challenges.
"First of all, every importer has the usual dealings with the regulation until the product arrives in Israel," she notes.
"Also, I think that if I were a small importer, I would have gone to play in the courts of the bigger ones, more in the 'mass market', it would have been much more difficult for me to succeed.
Competing with a big player or a well-known local brand is very difficult to the point of impossible, if it is in terms of The exposure, shelf space, and more. Since we play in the special worlds that we have chosen, then we get significant cooperation from the networks."
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