Dubai – “We aim to increase our sales in Brazil, and Gulfood is the right place to reach this goal,” said Mandeep Suri, marketing director of the Notions Group, which comprises Chocodate. The Emirati brand produces dates stuffed with almonds covered by chocolate and has a prominent stand in the Dubai fair. Suri told ANBA that the brand has already been selling to the supermarket chain Zaffari in Brazil for approximately two years, and they are focusing now on Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar. Until Tuesday (19), the company still hadn’t received the visit from the Brazilian chains.
“Our product is unique and distinctive. Chocodate is the leading brand in our group, responsible for 60% of our sales,” declared Suri. According to the director, last year Brazil purchased three containers of the brand’s product worth USD 250,00. In Zaffari, the 200 grams package is sold for approximately BRL 30,00 (USD 8,00). The Chocodate package in the Brazilian market contains information in Portuguese and the name of the supermarket that sells it.
The Notions Group has seven brands of chocolates, including Dara, Wishes, Rouge, and Arabian Delights, in addition to eight brands of potato chips. “The chips are made in Saudi Arabia and we buy the dates from Saudi Arabia and California because we need large ones to stuff with almonds. The product is finished in the UAE,” said Suri.
The first brand of the group was Arabian Delights, which also sells dates stuffed with almonds covered by chocolate. “Our date candies were first sold by this brand with packages for people to give as gifts, showing pictures of the UAE, landscapes, camels and much gold. But this kind of package was not well received outside the country when we started exporting, so the group decided to create a second brand, Chocodate, for the foreign market,” said the director.
In Dubai, Arabian Delights is still sold with this target audience in this gift packaging, and in addition to dates they also offer other fruits, such as dried figs covered by chocolate.
The Chocodate products are sold in coating options of milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, coconut white chocolate, and the brand-new flavor 85% cocoa chocolate. For those who visit Dubai, they may be found in supermarkets, at the Dubai Mall, and the Duty Free in Dubai airport. A 250 grams package costs approximately USD 7.
Before taking this position in Notions Group, Mandeep Suri from India worked in Sadia, which is part of the BRP group, for twelve years and visited Brazil several times.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
