KALLOS GLOBAL: Pick of the Pickers

Essential for our well-being, critical in combating diseases, aid to longevity; fresh fruit is a Good Health imperative. And a massive earner for South Africa.

Of the 4.7 million tons produced here, almost 60% is sold abroad, a R22 billion generator – 2.5% of GDP – making it the biggest segment of the nation’s crucial farm exporting arm.

A key player in the on-going drive is marketing and export specialists Kallos Global of Durbanville, Cape Town, South Africa.

Working predominantly in the apple market and focussing on top produce from quality growers, Kallos Global exports to markets across Africa, the Indian Ocean Islands, and increasingly, the Near, Far, and Middle East, Russia, and Canada.

From pome to citrus and grapes to pomegranates, South African fruit is among the best. Kallos Global is an African champion and Global Brand Ambassador, representing the premium fruit brands of its SA based growers and other top producers across the world.

With extensive product and market knowledge, expertise, and a multi-lingual marketing team, Kallos services its customers with value added solutions.

“It’s about delivering a sustainable value proposition to the industry. It’s not so easy to say that you are the best in the world, because that’s a biggy. But this is what we strive to achieve, and we have been successful in doing that,” says CEO Brendan Langeveldt.

SUSTAINABLE PLATFORMS

“While Africa remains the heart of our operation, we have developed sustainable global platforms operating in other strategic developing informal markets. We represent committed and dedicated third and fourth generation growers who nurture their lands passionately and professionally.

“By delivering top quality produce, these growers enable Kallos to fill critical shelf space in our markets across the world,” says Langeveldt.

Kallos was founded in 1943 by Etienne Kallos, with the vision of servicing the African continent with fresh fruit.

His son, Achilles, joined the company in the early 1960’s, over the next four decades he took the company and its operations to new heights before retiring in 2000 at the age of 70.

Brendan Langeveldt, a fruit industry executive veteran, supplied Kallos since 1989. He acquired an equity stake and a seat on the Board of Kallos in 2003. Brendan was appointed CEO in 2015, where he is affectionally known as ‘Captain’.

MARKET STRATEGISTS

“We have repositioned our company, grown exponentially over the past two decades, and are now recognised throughout the industry as a route to market strategist, specialising in developing nations and the informal sectors therein.

“For us, Africa is our playground and we have manifested an exceptionally strong and well-respected presence throughout 42 countries in Africa, specialising in Central, West and East Africa, as well as capitalising on all the Indian Ocean islands including Mauritius, Seychelles, Mayotte, Maldives and Reunion. We also have representation in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. We have been fortunate and have grown in leaps and bounds,” Langeveldt details.

Kallos’s close relationships with Growers and Receivers across the world ensures mutual growth and sustainability, ensuring year-round seasonal supply.

“Through product knowledge, experience and diversification, we have grown to offer an array of value adding produce, priding ourselves in supplying our global Receivers with a continuous array of produce year-round.”

While Kallos is active in the formal sector, notably supermarkets in the Russian and Canadian retail sector, over 90% of its business falls within the informal sector – small-scale owner-operated enterprises including street vendors.

Despite the high concentration of formal retail ownership in South Africa’s food and grocery sector, the informal food sector still accounts for 40 to 50% of sales – a take-up notably higher among households in poorer neighbourhoods. Elsewhere in Africa, the proportion is higher.

For these consumers, and for Kallos Global, the arrival of Covid-19 and its counter measures was a massive blow.

DOWN ON THE STREET

Following the March 2020 South Africa lockdown – and despite the supply of food being identified as an essential service – street fruit traders were immediately stopped from operating, losing their incomes overnight.

“Little was known about Covid, and there was a lot of panic,” says Langeveldt. “Ports closed, there were less volumes going into both the formal and informal trades, and street vendors – a huge percentage of our business – couldn’t conduct business and sales fell quite substantially.”

In 2019 Kallos placed 2000 – 40 ft reefer containers onto their established shelf space, securing R800m for the Kallos Group. In 2020 volumes dropped to 1500 containers resulting in a lower revenue of R600m, down 25%.

Covid, with all its devastating baggage, had some silver linings with a few category winners, one of them being fresh fruit. Widely welcomed for its publicised counter-infection properties, citrus sales, in particular, have seen a surge, as the pandemic spurred demand for vitamin C.

“The single biggest fruit category shipped into Africa is apples, by far the biggest percentage at 78% of our basket, with grapes at 10%, and citrus fruits at 8% with the balance of 4% made of various other fruits and vegetables.

“People seeing the advantages of maintaining a high level of vitamin C, prompted substantial demand for South African citrus resulting in record returns back to growers. Surprisingly, Africa competed successfully with other global citrus market returns.

“Demand has carried over into this year and a solid foundation has been laid for capitalising on citrus sales. As the saying goes, ‘The fruit follows the money’,” says Langeveldt. 

And across a wider global plane, the fruit industry is seeing Africa as an increasingly attractive marketplace.

AFRICA STEPS UP

“Prior to 2013, the global fresh fruit industry regarded Africa as a pretty small deal. But we persevered and pursued, and became the pioneers, in effect saying, if you want to establish a footprint in Africa, you need to put your money where your mouth is.

“We set up ‘shop’ in Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Rwanda and Tanzania, together with much needed infrastructure so as to discharge cargo into a cold store, without which you couldn’t maintain the cold chain needed to sell fresh fruit.

“By doing that, sticking to it, and getting the support of the growers, we established a sustainable demand for high quality fruit.

“And from there it has grown. Others have piggy backed on us, and that’s fine,” insists Langeveldt.

Africa, especially West Africa, is now “a massive, critical market” for South Africa’s Golden Delicious apple crop.

“Apple sales culminated into a domino effect resulting in shipping grapes, stone and citrus fruits.  

“Our fruit basket has grown, and we are now even doing kiwi fruit from Italy and hope soon to be shipping from New Zealand. Kiwi fruit is a hard one to sell, especially into a developing nation, trust me,” Langeveldt smiles.

ON-GOING CHALLENGE

If 2020 was challenging, this year is even more so, Langeveldt explains.

“So far, it’s been a flat line, and we are doing the same as 2020. Covid is still with us, and now we are also having to deal with another one of its consequences – container/equipment shortages.

“Due to misplaced equipment globally, we have a shortage of containers. We have demand, we have shelf space, and we’ve got the fruit, but we can’t meet market demand.”

But for a company where “tenacity, perseverance, guts and courage” are built into the DNA, challenges are temporary obstacles on the road to success.

Fruit plantings and growth are encouraging as is the Kallos global footprint.  

“Our passion, culture and integrity are paramount to establishing and maintaining successful, long-term relationships throughout the fresh produce industry,” says Langeveldt.

Solid relationships and word-of-mouth recommendations are 95% of the Kallos marketing strategy.

“Growers recommend us to other growers, our footprint has expanded, and as a result we have become one of the biggest fresh fruit suppliers into Africa.”

THAT PERSONAL TOUCH

“It’s the personal touch, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ with Kallos, absolutely not,” confirms Langeveldt.

“Kallos has three main drivers,” says its CEO: “our primary driver is unrequited passion, the second driver is striving to be the best in the world at developing sustainable Route to Market strategies for our grower base, each one is different; you can’t throw a blanket over it”

“Our third economic driver is our people. Our People are our single biggest asset. Now, if we draw three interlocking circles, with each circle representing one of the three drivers, then the ‘sweet spot’ is where all three circles overlap and intersect, this is what makes us different – this ‘sweet spot’ is our brand culture.

“It has taken years to develop our brand culture. It’s having a disciplined and passionate team consisting of the right people, doing the right thing at the right time, living by the Kallos Code of Ethics. Just like the cowboy, mending fences, branding and driving cattle to market, collecting the strays, ever protective of the herd, the Kallos Cowboy ensures that the rancher sleeps soundly. Every ranch needs a cowboy, and every cowboy needs a ranch.

“I’m blessed to be the captain of a great team and to have a happy marriage of 41 years. So, I guess you can say I’m one of these old school, lucky guys. I have a mistress, she’s called Kallos, and I spend more time with my mistress than I do with my wife. But my wife knows my mistress well, Kallos is a mistress she can respect.”