OREANDA-NEWS. On 18 August 2008 was announced, that to assist in the business development of its HoReCa customers METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine launched its new own brand HoReCa Select offering almost 70 ready business solutions for restaurants, cafes and catering companies.

HoReCa Select is an own brand of METRO Cash & Carry sold exclusively in the company’s wholesale centers. Products under the HoReCa Select brand are produced by 3 foreign and 15 Ukrainian producers selected according to the strict METRO Group quality standards.

In addition to METRO’s own brand Aro offering the lowest price on the market HoReCa Select puts major focus on stable high quality critical for HoReCa customers.

HoReCa Select products are specially created to meet the needs of restaurants, cafes and catering companies. The food products are sold in big packages. For instance, olives are offered in a 3 kilogram can. Now restaurants, cafes and catering companies can save their purchasing time and get more value for money.

METRO Cash & Carry guarantees high quality of own brand products through the multilevel quality control system. METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine quality assurance department of 11 specialists checks the producer. One member of the department is responsible for supervising the own brands on the full time basis. In addition an independent audit company audits the producer before the manufacturing begins. All own brand products are checked at least every half a year.

To introduce products to the customers METRO Cash & Carry holds special product promotions and tastings in all operating 20 stores. The Key Account Managers also personally visit customers presenting the new catalogue and samples of HoReCa Select products. In September METRO customers will participate in a series of master classes with the new products.

As of August 18, METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine sells more than 3.000 articles of food and nonfood products under 17 own brands. The company plans to enlarge the assortment of existing own brands as well as to launch new own brands.

Within 5 years of operations in Ukraine METRO Cash & Carry opened 20 wholesale stores: three in Kyiv, two in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa, one in Kharkiv, Lviv, Luhansk, Kryvyi Rih, Poltava, Vinnytsa, Zaporizhya, Chernivtsi, Mykolaiv, Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk. Having invested into the Ukrainian economy EUR 380 Mio. METRO Cash & Carry created close to 7 000 new jobs for Ukrainians.

METRO Cash & Carry is a sales division of the METRO Group, one of the most important international retailing and trading companies. In 2007, the group reached sales of ? 64.3 billion. The company has a headcount of more than 280,000 employees and operates about 2,500 outlets in 31 countries. The operating business is performed by the sales brands which operate independently in the market: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry, Real hypermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn – market leader in consumer electronics centers in Europe, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores. More information at: www.metrogroup.de.