In Ikea’s restaurants organic dishes attract customers and increase business. In all likelihood, in 2016, the Swedish furniture giant will reach and exceed the 100 million euro sales target. Over the past year, the Italian branch of Ikea Food recorded sales of 96 million euro, a figure that shows ample growth margins; a trend that started in 2001, when founder Ingvar Kamprad decided to launch a specific company that was tasked with handling the catering services within its stores. And today Ikea’s catering division handles more than 600 million customers worldwide.
ORGANIC, A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE – “Choosing organic food,” explains Dino Maldera, country Ikea food manager for Italy, “suits the Ikea corporate positioning perfectly and represents a competitive advantage, as it allows us to differentiate ourselves from competitors. At present, about a quarter of our products are organic. They come directly from Italian farming companies that do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. In this segment, the recent declining costs allows us to further increase the assortments, with products ranging from bread and cold cuts to gastronomic specialties.”
85% VISIT THE FOOD AREA – “Over the last year, 85% of people who visited the 21 Ikea stores considered a visit to the food area a must,” says Maldera. “These 17 million visitors bought at least one item. The catering side of Ikea’s business clearly represents a driving force for sales and even a fundamental marketing-tool to strengthen the Swedish company’s profile. We firmly believe the 2016 turnover can further increase by 5%.”
SUSTAINABILITY FIRST – The best selling item is Lavazza coffee, which fares even better than the classic meatballs and mineral water. One of last year’s most popular new entries is vegetarian dumplings, which according to an analysis provided by Ikea itself, have a 30 times smaller environmental impact than the traditional ones. “From our side,” said Dino Maldera, “there is every intention to support the consumption of healthy, safe, controlled, and environmentally-friendly food. We aim to raise consumer awareness, including children’s, about a healthy diet and environmental protection and in all our restaurants, we have just upgraded our fish products to comply with the standards set forth by the Marine Stewardship Council and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.”
