Food Alliance – Georgia

the company Food Alliance established a brand-new factory for the production of frozen pastries and bakery products, partly financed with the help of a EU4Business-EBRD Credit Line loan. The initial plan was to launch the production line in March 2020, however due the COVID-19 restrictions, the launch was delayed, and the factory started its production in July 2020. However, since then, the factory doors have remained open, and they supply their products to all major supermarket chains throughout Georgia. In addition, the company supplies various restaurants and cafes as well as the Gulf Petrol stations in Georgia. What seemed like a rocky start at first – i.e. opening a new production line in the midst of a pandemic, where the commissioning of new processes had to go hand in hand with the introduction of new stringent protection measures for employees throughout the company – turned out well for this company. As consumers were unable to dine out, the demand on frozen food products increased drastically in Georgia. This effect was amplified during periods, when the government restricted the movement of the population and instructed people to go out for shopping as rarely as possible. Thus, purchasing frozen food with its longer shelf-life, was a good way to extend the periods between shopping trips. Just after starting the new production, Food Alliance hit a niche that opened up as a result of this newly emerged consumer need.

Sales development has been very satisfactory throughout the pandemic period, so much so that the company is already eying further expansion to tackle export markets.