The Barakat Group’s story parallels that of the UAE, and the company’s growth mirrors that of its home country. The company was founded in 1976, five years after the country was formerly founded.
“We are a company with a strong heritage, tied to the heritage of our country, but we are also modernised, in the spirit of the UAE maintaining its values and heritage while being led by a modern sustainability agenda,” says Kenneth D’Costa, Managing Director of the Barakat Group.
Within that new country, Barakat rapidly established itself as a pioneer of chilled distribution, becoming its largest holder of fresh fruit and vegetables. A significant segment of its business is trading imported fruit and vegetables from all over the world, grading, sorting, and selling it.
“We introduced consumers in this country to fresh fruit and vegetables from all around the world,” says D’Costa. “We address the very bespoke requirements of very high-end customers across the hospitality channel, including premium catering, five-star hotels and palaces. We cater to bakers and restaurants, international chain accounts, and fine dining restaurants.”
Meanwhile, the retail sector Barakat supplies supermarkets and hypermarkets across the wholesale and premium sectors, as well as selling through its own Barakat stores e-commerce platform. But as well as dominating some markets, Barakat has built entirely new markets from the ground up.
“We have a manufacturing business and have become market leaders in the fresh juice segment,” D’Costa says. “We created this market from scratch. We have captured nearly 80% of that market in the country.”
Fresh Ideas
Across all these market sectors, Barakat has implemented one of the most intensive distribution systems in the country with a fleet of 350 of its own vehicles distributing to nearly 3,000 customers every day, all dedicated to one concept: Freshness.
“We are pioneers in fresh produce. Everything Barakat does is fresh, with no preservatives or additives. Whatever product we create, freshness is what it is all about,” D’Costa tells us. “Our advantage is our innovation. We are known and recognised externally by various agencies as the most innovative company in our field.”
As well as practically founding the fresh juice market in the UAE, Barakat is also consistently on the lookout for innovations to bring to the market, even to the point of establishing entirely new categories of products.
“Our products were absolutely new categories that we established in the country,” D’Costa says. “One of those products is our fresh juice shots. We were the first to introduce juice shots in this market. We have also introduced freshly brewed iced tea to the market. Usually, iced tea is canned with at least a three-month or six-month shelf life. Ours has only a 21-day shelf-life, as it is freshly brewed.”
Barakat’s research and development process is driven by chefs, a marketing team who can provide consumer insights, and a sales channel team that looks at customer insights and needs. Every fortnight these teams coordinate in an ideation meeting to review market trends, internal development and progress, and the performance of products already on the market.
“We put each idea through a stage gate system, looking at the commercial viability of each product, creating samples and testing it with our taste panels and customers,” D’Costa says. “We have a formal launch in the marketplace, brief our people internally and go to market.”
An important element of this process of innovation is that these new products are developed for and adapted to the local market.
“We don’t cut and paste from elsewhere. For instance, no country has launched a product like our freshly brewed iced tea. Our shots with a three-day shelf life are not available anywhere in the world,” D’Costa points out. “We adapt concepts to the local market and our strengths in managing the fresh supply chain. That creates a major entry barrier of entry for our competition.”
Fresh Perspectives
Barakat’s selling point is not just in the new products it brings to market, however, but in the quality of the service that delivers those products.
“We provide high-end customer service. Trading in the fresh produce business requires us to be very responsive. Customers’ needs can come very suddenly,” D’Costa explains. “We could get an order in the middle of the night for delivery at 5 am, to be manufactured and delivered in time. We can do that.”
To maintain that capability Barakat ensures it has the best people in class in its industry. D’Costa describes these people as the key to Barakat’s innovation and customer service.
“Businesses don’t compete, people do,” D’Costa insists. “Person-for-person we map our people against the competition for each position.”
Barakat Group has been undergoing a major overhaul of its talent, but not without preserving its existing strengths.
“Three years ago, we looked at our key strengths, innovation, service, and quality. We maintained our heads of quality, research and development, and HR. We didn’t fix what was not broken,” D’Costa says. “We brought in an IT resource from outside, migrated our systems to a new ERP, and re-examined our processes and practices.”
Barakat hired a new head of marketing with a strong digital marketing background and senior staff with a high level of experience in intensive distribution companies in the Middle East.
“Our new head of retail came from a juice background, and our head of hospitality was a homegrown individual who manages our café and restaurant segments very well,” D’Costa says.
D’Costa himself joined the company in September 2020, bringing with him 30 years of background in the food sector and 18 years in the region.
A Fresh Future
Together these talents are helping to maintain Barakat’s position among the world’s premier juice and beverages companies.
This includes maintaining the company’s edge in the sustainability arena, introducing a juice bottle that is 99% biodegradable that disappears after four years in landfill conditions.
“We are already a non-hazardous waste company, putting all our waste to work whether it is food or liquid waste,” D’Costa says proudly. “By 2025 we aim to be a zero-waste company. We make tremendous progress in utilising our wastewater and our waste products. We are also moving into sectors like animal feed with our peels and skins and pulp.”
D’Costa’s vision for the future of Barakat is one of geographic expansion, both into Saudi Arabia and Egypt, with joint ventures already underway in both territories. The company is also looking to expand into new product sectors.
“We see ourselves as a serious player in the frozen desserts sector, which are a natural proposition for us,” D’Costa says. “Because of our strength in the hospitality, café and restaurant channels, we are also moving into condiments, and possibly artisanal bakeries, because are always at the premium artisanal end.”
Wherever Barakat goes next, it is sure to be fresh and exciting.
