Sopema OI sets up at Mercadis, the national interest market of Montpellier, a distribution platform for frozen products and Reunion groceries intended for Reunion restaurants in mainland France. On his side, Ilôt Surgelé takes over a first frozen food store in Perpignan to offer the same offer to individuals and launch online sales throughout France.
“The Reunion market has its limits, and the metropolis represents a much larger playing field. There is a real need for Reunion products in mainland France, and efficient means of distribution make it possible to deliver frozen food and grocery products to all corners of France in four days maximum.. Now is the time to go, It’s good timing.”, explains Christophe Aigueperse, president of the companies Ilôt Surgelé and Sopema OI, whose activities complement each other and are linked : Sopema OI is the purchasing center, transformation and distribution of the Kryos group, which operates the 12 Ilôt Surgelé stores in Réunion. It is therefore through frozen food that a first solution is finally provided to the problem of distributing Reunion products in mainland France.. After the launch in Reunion last year of Aügur, the first French organic frozen food brand, Christophe Aigueperse's group is once again a pioneer by taking this unprecedented initiative : the installation in mainland France of an import and distribution platform for pei products. The realization of this project is also the fruit of the long-term work carried out by Essentiels Conseils & Strategy, the company of Bruno Du Boisguéheneuc, with professionals in France to put them in touch with producers from Reunion Island. The equation to solve has been known for a long time : France has more than 600 restaurants, food truck and other Reunion food outlets, a number which, despite the hazards of the activity, continues to grow year after year. These restaurants are frequented by tens of thousands of Reunion Islanders from mainland France and by vacationers who maintain a gastronomic link with the island in this way. (nearly three million metropolitan residents have already visited Reunion Island). Driven by the desire to make their native island known, most of these restaurateurs cultivate a small grocery section with the aim of supplementing their catering offering with Reunionese products offered for sale (condiments, drinks, etc.). Everyone faces the same problem : irregularity of supplies.
An expectation of Reunionese restaurants in mainland France
This inability to respond to the request and its consequences were at the center of the interview given to us in September 2023 by the journalist Nicolas Martin, founder of the site Réunionnais du monde aux 1,4 million visitors per year *. “It’s heartbreaking and a loss of income for the local economy”, deplored Nicolas Martin. Demand is strong, especially among professionals, of pei ingredients to be able to offer authentic rougail sausage : what a flat, which is a hit in mainland France, finds itself denatured in every way, even in industrial versions in sardine tins which no longer have anything to do with the recipe !
The MIN of Montpellier supports the project
“The project will be deployed on two legs, specifies Christophe Aigueperse. For individual customers, we are taking over a first frozen food store in Perpignan, including a Discovery Meeting space, and we are launching online sales with delivery throughout France. For professionals, We have a cold room and a workshop at the MIN in Montpellier for the preparation of our frozen products.. Cutting and packaging of frozen meats and fish will be done on site, exactly as we prepare them in our processing workshop in Reunion. » Note that the brand will notably test the typical Reunion cut, suitable for curry, and unknown in mainland France, cubed fish. A first container of péi products left Reunion at the end of September.
Launch in January 2025
Displaying the very young territorial brand “La Réunion”, Sopema OI will be at the Overseas pavilion of the International Catering Show, hotel and food industry, le Sirha, in Lyon next January. This is where this unique offering of Reunion products and its distribution platform will be officially presented to catering professionals.. The two sister companies wish to interest other producers in the food sector in this project, in order to broaden the choice offered to Reunionese restaurateurs and private customers in mainland France. The message is now launched with, pour perspective, if it is heard, to complete the system in Reunion with an export platform for pei products to the mainland.
