Chef Middle East, a regional food supplier for the hotel, dining and airline industries, has announced the acquisition of local company Limeline Premium Beverages effective from 30 August 2017.
The acquisition will provide Chef Middle East customers with direct access to Limeline’s drinks brands and is expected to create added value for Chef Middle East as it strengthens its position as a one-stop-shop for the foodservice industry in the GCC.
Steve Pyle, CEO at Chef Middle East said: “The Limeline business is relatively small presently but we believe the beverages category has fantastic potential and will enable us to grow in a space in which we currently have a limited presence. We believe the blend of our regional reach and service capability in tandem with our new premium soft drinks brands will yield positive benefits for our customers across all the markets we operate in.”
“The brands Limeline has in its portfolio are entirely complementary with the premium brands CME already represents across the GCC. As such, it is entirely consistent with our ambition to grow CME into the region’s leading speciality broadliner.
Chef Middle East continues to look for acquisition opportunities to augment its business and is focusing on opportunities presented in each of the markets it operates in.
The supplier services more than 1,000 customers from its headquarters in the UAE and its branches in Qatar and Oman.
John Power, Co-Founder of Limeline Premium Beverages said: “The demand for more healthy and natural beverages is a key trend. Consumers have a greater awareness of what goes into food and drinks and are now actively seeking out healthier and more sustainable products.
“This trend particularly influences soft drinks and functional health drinks. In the latter, consumers are searching for natural ways to boost their health, and a beverage is a highly convenient way to do so. CME has added a range of “Soft Drinks for Grown Ups” to cater to this market, offering a unique portfolio of premium beverages, and becoming their customers “one stop solution” for all their quality food and beverage requirements.”
Chef Middle East has multi-temperature storage facilities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and a fleet of over 50 temperature controlled distribution vehicles.
With over 4,000 food products from European and Asian countries listed, the company recently established a Culinary Innovation Centre at its Dubai headquarters.
Pyle added: “At present, there are over 40 SKU’s and 9 brands. All the inventory will be housed in our new state of the art facility in DIP Dubai, which we designed and built with the capacity to enable growth whether that be organically or through acquisition. We expect to treble the size of the existing business within the next twelve months and double the number of buying customers within this category.”
