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YOURSTARTER

People eat sharks 600,000 times more frequently than sharks eat people.

Useless knowledge from the world of food

Source: Pulpmedia GmbH (2013). Millionärswissen. Unnützes Wissen, mit dem man reich werden kann. Munich.

FOR FURTHER ARTICLES, PHOTOS AND VIDEOS,    GO TO

When a simple idea gives rise to a trendy restaurant, a 1-man office grows into a global sourcing net-work and a dedicated team builds the marketplace of the future, things are transformed.

It is people, with their goals and visions, that drive us forward, excite us and help to shape our core business. That is why they are the focus of our new magazine.

MPULSE reports in print and online what moves customers, employees and partners of METRO – and what we set in motion for others. The magazine informs, enquires and tells stories about the products, ideas and people that ensure that our business never stands still.

 IN MOTION

WWW.   MPULSE.   DE

02 Appetizer METRO around the world

MOVING PEOPLE

04 Working with the tides Supplier Bine Pöhner farms oysters

on Sylt

05 The Californian dream in Germany With her own restaurant, Jackie Hingsen

is living her dream

MOVING GOODS

06 Smooth running – straight from the source to the shelf

The Valencia Trading Office has been procuring fruit and vegetables for METRO for 10 years now

MOVING BOUNDARIES

10 ‘Now is the right time!’ A conversation with Jan-Philipp Blome,

CEO of METRO MARKETS

12 Dessert METRO in figures

01MPULSE

APP

ETIZ

ER

METRO was named a ‘Top Employer’ once again in 2019: METRO AG,

7 METRO countries and METRO-NOM are delighted to have been certified as such by the Top Employers Institute. METRO uses all kinds of initiatives and promotion programmes

to offer employees at all levels an array of continuing

professional development opportunities and places its staff

at the heart of its business activities.

RECOGNITION AS A TOP EMPLOYER

years’ partnership between METRO and One Drop

3people in the northern Indian district of Sheohar with access to clean water and sanitary facilities

250,000Project purpose: supplying at least

Donations of at least

€1.2million by 2021 through the METRO Water Initiative

‘Water runs your business’: this is the motto under which the METRO Water Initiative 2019 is running. 22 METRO countries and 22 suppliers participated in the 2-week campaign planned around World Water Day on 22 March. Customers were able to support the campaign by buying certain products of the partici-pating suppliers. The aim of the campaign is to bring the global water crisis to people’s attention and also to secure the start-up financing for a project that METRO is backing together with One Drop. METRO is teaming up with the Canadian foundation for 3 years to give people in the northern Indian district of

Sheohar access to clean water and sani-tary facilities. Funds in the amount of €1.2 million are to be donated to the joint project through the METRO Water Initiative between now and 2021 – a sum which is guaran-teed by METRO.

Marie-Claude Bourgie, responsible for fundraising and partnership strategy at the One Drop foundation, discusses project aims and their realisation:

 WWW. MPULSE.DE /MOVING BOUNDARIES

 METRO  WATER INITIATIVE 2019

02 MPULSE

Bucharest

Ștefăneștii de Jos

Serbia’s food service industry is a sector of the economy which continues to grow and which has immense potential – there are around 28,000 own business owners in the country’s food service and hotel industry. To make small to medium-sized businesses more competitive, the METRO HoReCa Centre in Serbia and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce organised 7 free workshops for restaura-teurs and held them in various cities throughout the country. At the workshops, the participants worked with METRO HoReCa experts to come up with new ideas for how to further improve their products and services. More than 100 business owners have already made the most of this opportunity and more workshops will follow.

WORKSHOPS FOR SERBIAN RESTAURATEURS

Around 28,000independent businesses in the food service and hotel industry, of which approximately 8,000 in Belgrade

In January 2019, METRO Romania had the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a strategic warehouse in Ștefăneștii de Jos, approx imately 15 km north of Bucharest. A central

logistics platform measuring around 60,000 m² will be developed there, comprising all the climate zones and space for both food and non-food items. The warehouse is expected to cover the country’s needs for products in all categories and also optimise supply chain workflows.

NEW WARE- HOUSE UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN ROMANIA

The own brand METRO Chef is increasing its organic produce: around 20 organic products in the category of fresh fruit and vegetables are already available in Austria, including tomatoes, fennel, broccoli, peppers, oranges and lemons. The primary supplier is the Spanish company Hawo Fruits Spain,

S.L., which has been selling organic foods since 2004. METRO Austria is working towards expanding this area to include home-grown organic produce such as apples, carrots and onions. In the medium term, the METRO Chef organic product range will additionally be launched in other countries.

METRO CHEF ORGANIC PRODUCT RANGE

03MPULSE

WORKINGWITH THE  TIDES Sylt is home to one of Europe’s most

northerly oyster farms – and the only one in Germany. Bine Pöhner tends to the Sylter Royal, the pre-cious oyster from the Wadden Sea. Though she’s the boss, she says she’s actually a ‘factotum’. She keeps an eye on the balance sheet, monitors purchases and manages sales. Whenever she can, she wades into the Wadden Sea in oilskins and wellingtons – rain or shine, dawn or dusk. It’s all about the tides. Bine Pöhner is a master of this complex nurturing process. From cultivation and harvest up to packaging and preparation, every step requires craftsmanship and hard physical work.

S

2Each oyster is nur-tured for 2 years until it is harvested at a weight of 70 to 90 grams.

A feature about the Sylter Royal, the farmed oyster from the Frisian Wadden Sea, can be found at

 WWW. MPULSE.DE /MOVING PEOPLE

Bine Pöhner has been cultivating oysters for 14 years. Here, no 2 days are the same and one learns to work in harmony with the elements.

04 MPULSE MOVING PEOPLE

The Californian dream in  Germany

Sometimes all it takes is a brief moment to turn your life upside down. For Jackie Hingsen this moment was a meal in a restaurant in her old hometown of Los Angeles. The result was Cali Eats, a restaurant in Düsseldorf that brings the laid-back joy of living of the Golden State to Germany.

Every female entrepreneur is unique –

but what do they all have in common?

In its representative International Own Business Study conducted in 10 countries, METRO found that 40% of all women surveyed would like to work for themselves. However, only 3% believe that they will one day realise this wish. One of the greatest challenges lies in obtaining the necessary financing. The majority of those who ventured into entrepreneurship (54%) want to earn a living doing something that makes them happy.

SShe was taken by both the concept and the flavours. Even though the restaurant in California was rammed, she still got what she wanted quickly: a salad that consisted of more than a few leaves and a handful of tomatoes.

Back in Germany, Jackie, herself half-American, told herself that ‘we need a place like that here’. That was the moment she decided to call time on her office job. The business studies graduate set about creating her res-taurant concept. She was keen for it to reflect the Californian feeling of palm trees, the beach and healthy eating.

And she pulled it off. Cali Eats feels like you’ve been transported straight to Santa Barbara. Palm trees provide the greenery in the room, a surfboard decorates the wall and there’s a pleasant aroma of fresh ingredients – and you can also almost smell the sea. She serves smoothies

and bagels, but bowls and salads are her speciality.

Jackie Hingsen is a busi- ness woman. It’s obvious when she talks about her ideas and admits to checking her account balance every day. She managed to get her restaurant off the ground with no external finance. ‘That was really hard,’ she says. The bank didn’t want to finance her concept. ‘No catering experience,’ they said. But: her idea burned bright within her. Her passion gave her the drive she needed to realise her dream.

She has no desire to go back to her office job. She is too fond of the freedom and flexibility that she has working for herself. She also has grand plans, such as maybe expanding. Her entrepreneurial gene has definitely been awoken.

For more on how Jackie Hingsen brought a piece of California to Germany, on her ideas beyond the ‘healthy concept café’ and on the results of the OBD study, visit

 WWW. MPULSE.DE /MOVING PEOPLE

Jackie Hingsen (31) has made the dream of her own restaurant come true.

05MPULSE MOVING PEOPLE

 Smooth running – straight from the source to the    shelf

A METRO supplier for 6 years now: Jose Luis Martinez is committed to good partnership.

2009 on the Spanish east coast: the Valencia Trading Office (VTO) of METRO has just been launched. ‘We started from nothing and in the beginning collaborated with a few orange growers right around the corner from our office,’ recalls Jorge Garcia, Head of Quality & Sustain-ability VTO, who was the only person working in his department at the time. Today – 10 years later – he heads a team of 6 colleagues. By now the VTO has more than 60 employ-ees altogether and works with over 240 suppliers all over the world, from Greece and Italy to Brazil and Mexico. The VTO team procures a wide range of fruits and vegetables from around the globe – including such exotic products as finger lime, a citrus fruit with pearl-like pulp, or Buddha’s hand, a citron variety whose fruit is shaped like fingers. ‘I am proud of what we have built over the past 10 years,’ says Laurent Renard, Director VTO. ‘We have grown continuously, and in some years our volume of goods increased by up to 25%.’

On a direct way to the goal – fast and efficiently

The trading office in Valencia is part of a global sourcing network for food items with several sites around the world, each of which purchases specific commodity groups for METRO. The trading office in Rotter-dam, for instance, is responsible for fresh and frozen meat, and the team in Concarneau, France, for fresh fish and seafood. Other sites are in Hong Kong and Düsseldorf. ‘All trading offices are united by a joint goal: we want to offer our customers attra-ctive, unique and sustainably assem-bled product portfolios that stand out for their diversity, freshness and quality,’ says Emmanuel Langdorf, Director Global Ultra Fresh Sourcing

Whether it is juice oranges from Morocco, monkfish from the Atlantic or rump steak from Argentina – METRO’s International Trading Offices manage direct food sourcing from through-out the world. The purchasing experts make a concerted effort to select the best products for METRO around the globe. The trading office in Valencia, Spain, which specialises in fruits and vegetables, will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2019 – and can look back on an impressive success story.

of the International Trading Offices (ITO). The trading offices’ network employs the strategy of common sourcing, which METRO also likes to call direct or global sourcing. ‘We bundle the demand volume of the METRO countries, go straight to the source and in this way shorten the supply chain. The goods move from their place of origin to the store shelf as quickly as possible, without intermediate storage or middle-men,’ says Emmanuel Langdorf. ‘Common sourcing allows us to guarantee short delivery times, competitive prices plus maximum availability of the goods. Ultimately our customers in the store benefit from fresh products of excellent quality that meet their precise requirements.’

Cooperation all along the line

A key success factor for the global sourcing experts is their close col-laboration with the METRO countries. ‘We are in a constant dia-logue with the category managers in the different countries,’ says Emman-uel Langdorf. The goal is to optimally fill the needs of each country. Laurent Renard gives an example: ‘Every orange is different, for instance with respect to quality class, size, shape, colour and juice content. And we source the exact orange our customer needs – from the pre-mium product for the Michelin star kitchen to the small varieties that are particularly suitable for juice production.’

His colleague Jorge Garcia puts it like this: ‘We know our suppliers’ goods and we know our customers’ wishes – and we merge the 2 in the best way possible.’ Often unusual products are requested, therefore the teams observe the market con-stantly, following trends and sup-porting innovations. ‘Our trading office in Rotterdam, for instance, pleaded for including dry-aged beef and the meatless burger from the start-up Beyond Meat in our port-folio,’ says Emmanuel Langdorf. The trading office in Valencia also cham-pions new ideas. These include unusual varieties such as chocolate oranges, whose special feature is their chocolate-coloured peel. Or

07MPULSE MOVING GOODS

ready-to-eat avocados with a per-fect degree of ripeness for immedi-ate consumption. ‘We want to be distinct and unique in a way that meets the high standards of our cus-tomers in the food service industry spot on,’ says Laurent Renard.

In the service of optimum quality

In Valencia, a dedicated team of experienced specialists from 13 coun-tries – from buyers and salespeople to logistics experts and through to quality inspectors – ensures that everything moves smoothly all the way from the source to the store shelf. ‘Everything starts with the selection of suppliers,’ says Jorge Garcia. Like all global trading offices of METRO, the VTO relies on a strict selection process. A new supplier, for instance, must present a GLOBALGAP certificate, a globally recognised quality assurance stand-ard in agriculture. ‘We take a close look at product quality and food safety, for instance by regularly tak-ing samples which we examine in our lab,’ explains Jorge Garcia. ‘Additionally, personal contact with the supplier is the be-all and end- all for cooperation in a spirit of trust.’ Suppliers such as the Spanish orange grower Jose Luis Martinez from Element Fresh confirm this:

Always looking for top quality: Jorge Garcia, Head of Quality & Sustainability VTO.

08 MPULSE MOVING GOODS

Hand in hand: global and local sourcing made to measure

METRO combines 2 channels: On the one hand, the International Trading Offices handle the global sourcing of food items. On the other, each METRO country procures products locally. Both channels complement each other perfectly. An example: During tomato season in Germany, the German METRO stores buy most of their merchandise from regional producers. In winter the trading office in Valencia joins the action and procures tomatoes from countries like Spain and Morocco. Altogether, METRO pur-chases some 70% of food items locally and about 30% globally.

 WWW. MPULSE.DE    /MOVING GOODS

VIDEO AVAILABLE AT:

‘We maintain a special partnership with METRO. The VTO supports us with its expertise, for instance when it comes to developing new sustain-able technologies for orange growing.’

Thinking of tomorrow today

Responsibility for people and the environment has an enormous weight in global sourcing. ‘We do everything we can to actively help shape METRO’s sustainability strat-egy,’ says Emmanuel Langdorf. On the one hand the concept of direct sourcing itself boosts ecological efficiency. ‘Thanks to shorter trans-port routes, lorry traffic and energy consumption can be reduced.’ On the other hand the trading offices do a lot of fine-tuning in

the day-to-day business. ‘Whether you look at optimised logistics pro-cesses, environmentally compatible packaging materials or sustainable irrigation management – in concert with our suppliers we constantly search for forward-looking solutions,’ says Emmanuel Langdorf. Some-times even small ideas have a major effect – for instance packing pine-apples without the crowns. ‘This way we save a third of the space in the transport boxes, reduce logistics costs and energy plus food waste, because the leaves are used for decoration purposes in restaurants.’ Another example: When the Concar-neau Trading Office buys fresh prod-ucts at fish auctions on the Atlantic coast from family enterprises that use small boats and gentle fishing methods, sustainability is a central selection criterion. Another key aspect is transparency: with the PRO TRACE smartphone app we can trace the bodies of water where the fish was caught and the methods used. Detailed data will also be available for numerous meat prod-ucts as well as fruits and vegetables, for instance about origin and qual-ity. And so all customers can see for themselves that the METRO pur-chasing experts get only the best products from around the globe – straight from the source to the store shelf.

09

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MORE ON THE TOPIC AT:

Jan-Philipp Blome, CEO of METRO MARKETS, about platform models, new opportunities for METRO as a wholesaler, and the need for an open culture of error.

10 MPULSE MOVING BOUNDARIES

provider, potential sellers are also customers rather than suppliers. This alone is a major step for an established wholesale company such as METRO. After all, so far we have been used to talking to sup pliers about product ranges and, at the product level, to negotiating prices. In the future, METRO MARKETS will enable a large number of pro-viders to help design and sell prod-uct ranges via our platform. Our target group HoReCa will benefit not least from a considerably larger selection.

The METRO brand is also synonymous with supreme quality and sustain-ability throughout the world. How can you manage to maintain the high standards on a platform?

This is a very important issue, where we no doubt must gather experi-ence. What is certain is that check-ing every item beforehand will thwart not only the idea of the open platform – it will also hinder the scaling of the business model and, ultimately, growth. This means: we are going to define suitable mech-anisms and rules that will be auto-mated and continuously checked. At real.de we have had excellent experiences with this so far.

B2C platforms like Amazon, Zalando or Booking.com are growing very successfully. What opportunities do you see for METRO in the B2B segment?

With METRO and MAKRO we have 2 established brands in Europe, Russia and Asia that enjoy an out-standing reputation. What’s more, with our clear focus on HoReCa customers we operate in a sector that is growing and that does not have a dominating platform yet. Finally, we already possess digital knowledge which we collected when building the B2C platform real.de. In that respect we are starting from an excellent position. Even so, it’s going to be a journey with many hurdles which we must overcome.

What are the major challenges facing METRO MARKETS?

One of our most important jobs is putting together a good team. We

have been working hard on this since August 2018. Considering the tense IT labour market, this is cer-tainly challenging. An advantage we have is our corporate culture, which relies on flat hierarchies and leaves the employees room to make their own contributions and try out new things. As soon as we go live with our platform, another crucial phase begins for us where the key question to be answered is: How fast will we manage to make sure the business model works? We are responsible for the IT aspects of this undertaking as well as for its long-term business operations. A third challenge is certainly internationalisation. But at this point this is still quite a way off.

What is the time frame you are planning for METRO MARKETS?

This year we will go live with our platform in the first country and first test whether the customers accept our business model and concept. On the basis of the available data we can then assess whether the business model is viable, where we must make changes or perhaps even replan. After all, it would be naive to think that a concept that was con-ceived in theory also works right away 100% in reality. Therefore mis-takes must be corrected as quickly as possible. In this respect we work no differently than start-ups with a wide open culture of error. As soon as our business model works in the first country, we can start transfer-ring the platform to other countries in a highly standardised process.

You are setting an enormous transformation in motion …

Definitely! But the fact is also that the digital transformation has been underway for quite some time now. So the question is simply, how do we deal with it? And in this respect our decision is perfectly clear: we want to actively participate in shaping the transformation for our company, our customers and our stakeholders – and the right time to do so is now.

Mr Blome, in summer 2018 METRO MARKETS was launched as a new METRO company. What is behind this?

We are currently developing an online B2B marketplace for METRO which combines various business models and, over the long term, is to be integrated in the country domains. We will sell our own products via this plat-form – in our name and for our account. At the same time we are going to open the platform to third parties. Focus customers are clearly HoReCa customers. We are aligning all processes, product ranges and services towards them and their require-ments. As METRO MARKETS it is our job to build the technology as well as develop the processes, the marketing infrastructure and everything that is necessary to operate the platform success-fully throughout Europe.

What is the difference be-tween such a platform and strict wholesale business?

A platform brings supply and demand together and is there-fore basically aimed at 2 key customer groups: the customers on the demand side – in our case the HoReCa customers – and the retailers on the supply side. This means that for us as a platform

11MPULSE MOVING BOUNDARIES

METRO IN FIGURES

Total sales1 €8,017 million

Like-for-like sales growth1 +2.3%

EBITDA1 €472 million

Stores (METRO Wholesale)1 771

1Q1 2018/19.

Employees2 more than 150,000

DISH: METRO has already helped more than 120,000 restaurants to create a free website.1

For the 4th time in succession, METRO AG ranks at the top of its industry, leading the Food & Staples Retailing group in the Dow Jones Sustainability World and Europe indices.

2Annual average by headcount as of the closing date of 30/9/2018.

IMPRINT

PublisherMETRO AGMetro-Straße 140235 Düsseldorf, GermanyPO box 23036140089 Düsseldorf, Germany

METRO on the internetwww.metroag.de

Corporate CommunicationsT +49 211 6886-4252F +49 211 6886-2001presse@metro.de

Project lead, conceptand editorialKatharina Meisel

Project managementKim Franziska LübkeKatrin MingelsViktoria Rous

Graphic designStrichpunkt GmbHSophienstraße 610178 Berlin, Germany

Editorial supportand realisationKetchum Pleon GmbHBahnstraße 240212 Düsseldorf, Germany

PrintingDruckstudio GmbHProfessor-Oehler-Straße 1040589 Düsseldorf, Germany

PhotographySabine Grothues: p. 5Sabrina Phiesel: p. 5Strichpunkt: back coverUrban Zintel: cover, pp. 1, 4, 6–9Boris Zorn: pp. 1, 10, 12

IllustrationStrichpunkt GmbHSophienstraße 610178 Berlin, Germany

Photo creditsMETRO AG

Disclaimer METRO AG makes every reasonable e� ort to provide correct and complete informa-tion in this magazine and to not infringe third-party trademark rights. METRO AG cannot accept any liability or vouch for providing information that is up to date, correct and complete in this magazine. In particular, the user is not granted rights of any kind to company names and other industrial property rights held by METRO AG or its associated companies with -out the express permission of METRO AG. The reproduction or use of graphics or text created by METRO AG is not allowed without the express permission of METRO AG. METRO AG remains the holder of the copyright to such content. Any use of the industrial property rights held by METRO AG or its associated companies for which approval has not been granted or which abuses the owner’s rights represents a violation of proprietary rights and/or an infringement of fair competition.

You will fi nd a digital version of the METRO magazine MPULSE at:

www.mpulse.de/en/downloads.

If you would like to receive the magazine as a print publication, please contact: mpulse@metro.de.

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