JOHANNESBURG. Swedish entrepreneurial coffee company OneCafé International boosts a major break through – its first contract with a mainstream coffee roastery, Norwegian Kaffehuset Friele AS, partly owned by US consumer goods giant Sara Lee Corp.
The contract, worth a minimum SEK 5 million, gives OneCafé, which has a coffee production JV in Uganda, the possibility to prove its new concept to a larger audience and attract attention among major coffee players.
“The fact that a large quality roastery has decided to introduce the concept for their coffee and brand is definitely a milestone. This deal also helps us to spread the concept and the OneCafe brewing method across the world which increases the interest also for our own ‘OneCafé Uganda Original’ product”, says Mr. Ragazzo, OneCafe’s CE..
“A joint venture of this kind is good news also for our African JV Elgonia OneCafé International ltd in Uganda as it warrants continued development and attention for the company there”, says Johnny Ragazzo.
Kaffehuset Friele AS, says Ragazzo, is the market leader in Norway were it has a 35 percent market share – which translates into a billion cups of coffee annually. The company is the oldest roastery in the Nordic countries and dates back to the late 1700’s.
“The five-year agreement gives Kaffehuset Friele AS the right to produce and sell OneCafé packaging solutions filled with Friele’s own branded coffee, in Norway”, says Johnny Ragazzo.
He states that OneCafé in a very short of time space – it was launched two years ago – has become a popular product in the hotel-, restaurant- and travel industries. The company’s packaging method has won a number of prestigious international award for its innovative technology and OneCafé’s marketing method, to use the UN millennium goals as major part of its sales push, has also lifted the company’s profile.
The concept is basically an instant coffee solution, but unlike pulverised coffee OneCafé offers fresh coffee in an aroma protected bag, similar to a tea bag.
So far OneCafé has sold its own Ugandan produced coffee in Sweden and Denmark. It has set up its own manufacturing plant in the southern Swedish town Eslöv last year. The company started as an incubator at the technology innovation village linked to the University of Lund.
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OneCafé represents a new wave of entrepreneurial Nordic companies which dares to stick its neck out and root its business strategy in Africa from the outset and even stick the UN poverty reduction goals to its mast.
That is commendable, but also makes sense as the company opted for the premium market – which means Arabica coffee from the mountain areas where Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia share borders.
OneCafé also started marketing the concept in South Africa last year, but have done no significant deal so far.
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