What Portuguese branded goods makers do to get their brands noticed in hotels, restaurants and cafes


22.04.04	read original article
	more Portuguese stories?

Marketing to the Portuguese horeca channel
Portuguese seminar attracts top names, such as Bonduelle, Renova and Unilever.

We are all familiar, as marketers, with the challenge faced by major manufacturers as they battle to establish their brands in the hearts and minds of consumers. Yet this is only one aspect of marketing and many brands have to fight for attention in a variety of marketplaces.

One such marketplace is that of "horeca" (hotels, restaurants and cafés), writes the Portuguese business newspaper Diário Económico, which reports a recent seminar organised by Portugal's trade association for makers of branded goods, Centromarca, on this very subject.

While Centromarca president Pinto Ferreira maintains that "at the centre of everything is consumer satisfaction", clearly there are separate considerations marketers must take into account when approaching intermediary channels such as horeca.

capitaoiglo.gif (12917 bytes)
Capitão Iglo, Portuguese version of one of Unilever's leading brands

The central theme of the seminar, says Diário Económico, was "how to establish brands in the Horeca channel" and the event attracted representatives from top-name brands such as Bonduelle, Renova, Nobre, Sogrape and Unilever Bestfoods.

Given its size, the horeca market cannot be ignored by marketers looking to maximise sales volumes. Particularly in countries where tourism is an important driver of the economy, it can make or break some brands. In Portugal alone, for example, there are between 80,000 and 100,000 such outlets. However, as Pinto Ferreira pointed out, it is difficult to take a common approach to marketing to all these outlets, given that they will tend to have widely varying interests and objectives.

For food and drink brands especially, however, this is a difficulty they must overcome. Other sectors with a significant interest in marketing to the horeca channel include hygiene products, which explains the presence at the seminar of Renova, which has product lines of disposable paper specifically designed for use in hotels, restaurants and cafés.

Renova's marketing director, Luís Saramago, told delegates of the trends he sees affecting the market and of the principal difficulties connected with establishing brands in the horeca channel. The marketplace is characterised, Saramago said, by fierce competition between brands, with clients wanting "more for less". Renova counters this by having a diversified range and through regular innovation - of course, while paying attention to prices.

Indeed, innovation is one of the key requirements for marketers looking to succeed in horeca. Pioneering brands present within the sector include Lipton Ice Tea, for example.

However, while the end consumer may ultimately lie at the centre of any marketing strategy, different audiences must be addressed in order to reach him or her. The buying public, for example, may ask for branded drinks which arrive on the table much as they left the factory. However marketers must also recognise the importance of those responsible for choosing and processing products, namely the chefs and their cooking staff. "They are two completely different sensitivities", says Pinto Ferreira.

If, on the one hand, the end consumer may be more affected by the image a product presents and its promotion, the person handling the product will be more concerned with its quality. With this in mind, Nobre recently unveiled its "Academia de Charcutaria" (cooked meats academy), designed to offer training and information to cooks and those in charge of buying and handling such foods. Unilever Bestfoods, too, runs training courses for catering staff. "This is a fundamental undertaking", says Pinto Ferreira.

Other brands concentrate on partnership with those operating horeca outlets with a view to gaining maximum presence for their brand within the sales environment, as is the case with Coca Cola and McDonald's and even Nobre, he adds.