" From farm to fork "
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About us
About Us
POMONA GROUP
SUPPLY AND SHIPPING IN FRANCE AND IN THE WORLD
For over a century, Pomona Group has been supplying and shipping food products to culinary professionals: restaurants, delis, caterers, retailers and wholesalers. We have built our proficiency based on the satisfaction and feedback received from the daily assistance we provide our clients.
Our priority is your satisfaction.
FIGURES
- 3.01 billions Euros of turnover in 2014
- net profit of 63.4 millions of Euros
- 8.600 employees
- a capital owned by Dewavrin family (75%)
HISTORY
In 1910, Max Monnot started a business as a butter, eggs, and cheese supplier in Reims. Two years later, the young entrepreneur changed focus to specialize in banana trade. He was quickly successful and developed his activity to involve other cities in France: Nancy, Lyon, Dijon, Strasbourg...By 1920, the company was the French leader in the import and wholesale of fruit and vegetables. Between 1928 and 1935, the Dewavrin-Masurel family from the North of France started to invest in the company and later became the majority shareholder.
From 1947, the company invested in post-war reconsolidation and expansion. It developed advertising campaigns, built new warehouses, and diversified. In the 1960s, Pomona started marketing seafood, meat, dairy products, and frozen food, and launched its own brands: La petite fleur bleue (small blue flower) for fruit and vegetables, and Les Crudettes for salads. Pomona first targeted hypermarkets and supermarkets then turned to restaurants and catering in the 1980s.
At the same time the Group modernized the supply chain and implemented central purchasing offices in every branch, refining the spirit of expertise at every head office. In the 2000s, Pomona started to develop delicatessen, bakers and pastry chefs’ products, and later butchers and caterers’ products.
Throughout Western, Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Middle East, America and Africa, the Group operates internationally since 1990.
GROUP VIDEO
POMONA EXPORT
POMONA EXPORT
Pomona Export’s office and warehouses are located in the world's largest fresh produce market in Rungis, France. We have significant experience in the fresh food market: 100 years of trading fresh fruit and vegetables, 50 years of shipping seafood products, and more than 20 years of trading grocery.
The national network in France is divided into 18 regional offices, selecting the best prices directly on the farming plots and at the auctions.
We are also pioneers in the certification process: we were the first fresh product retailer to be certified with organic farming and sustainable fishing MSC status (Marine Stewardship Council).
AN EXPERTISE IN SOURCING DIVERSIFIED AND QUALITY RANGES
We purchase on a daily basis fruit and vegetables direct from the farming plot and seafood from the auctions. We have strict specifications for each of our suppliers.
Our products such as groceries, dairy, meat, and frozen products, are carefully selected according to an exact set of requirements. Our suppliers are chosen for the quality of the products and their professionalism, expertise, and passion they bring to their work. To ensure perfect quality and obtain the best prices, we select our products in France and also import goods from all over the world.
PRODUCTS CAREFULLY SELECTED
We have developed a "general marketing standard" with its criteria applied to all purchases. Our products must be intact, wholesome and clean, free of all foreign matter or parasites, unusual external moisture and any foreign smell or taste. Their good condition guarantees safe handling, transport, and shipment to our customers.
Besides this, we set a technical data sheet for each range of product (lemons, wild sea bass, potatoes...) since each has its own characteristics and requirements. It includes the product color, its firmness, appearance, condition of skin or bark, size and weight, degrees Brix and acidity.
RESPONSIVE AND PERSONALIZED SERVICES
Our customers include caterers, restaurants, supermarkets, and delis. We offer a range of services adapted to the variety of our clientele: gourmet restaurants, pubs, caterers, mobile catering outlets...
As our client, you are accompanied and advised by our dedicated sales team on a daily basis. They will be working with you day-to-day, advising and taking your daily or weekly orders. Our area managers put their heart and soul into knowing their clientele, your functioning and habits, to develop a good relationship with you and to meet your needs.
They offer the best prices and keep you informed of the special offers that might interest you. They also develop a logistic plan adapted to your business and your products, organized and optimized at the lowest cargo costs.
WHERE WE ARE
Rungis
We are located in the center of the Rungis International Market on the outskirts of Paris. It’s the largest fresh produce market in the world, originally located in Les Halles in the heart of the city. With the post-war industrial boom the market was moved to the south of the city, benefiting from its proximity to Orly airport and access to major transport routes.
Today, it covers almost 8 million square feet and provides mostly fruit, vegetables, seafood, dairy and meat products. Being at the absolute center of the food industry allows our business flexibility: we can meet our customers’ demands and source from suppliers of choice around the clock.
Boulogne-sur-Mer
We have a platform in the heart of Boulogne-sur-Mer’s seafood terminal in the north of France. The city by the English Channel is the largest fishing port in the country and collects more than 380,000 tons of seafood every year. The city is also a major cargo port, shipping more and more goods around the globe.
As we are very close to the fishermen we can choose our products as they are being unloaded from the boats : freshness is guaranteed and prices are contained.
Centres régionaux
GUARANTEED QUALITY
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Our Suppliers
Our products are selected according to specific criteria based on their environmental impact, and our services are working to reduce their ecological footprint. We select our suppliers according to:
- Requirements of food safety, responsible nutrition and social equity, as well as their limited ecological footprint
- Environment-friendly production methods (including processing)
- Implementation of Sustainable Development (ISO 14001), Food Safety Management Systems (ISO 22000) and Customer Satisfaction (ISO 9001) standards or related norms
- Compliance with the provisions related to labor law and the Declaration of the International Labor Organization.
Our Ecological Footprint
• Recycling cardboard packaging is a sector of our warehouse operations in its own right; either the cardboard is reused by other branches of the Group or pressed into bales to be recycled. A certified company recycles our printed paper, and the paper used in our daily operations is recycled.
• We comply with the environmental standards Euro IV and Euro V regarding the emissions of our trucks. Furthermore, we optimize our logistics for supply and delivery, which allows us to reduce the number of trucks on the roads and their mileage.
RESPECT OF MARINE RESSOURCES
Our seafood suppliers are committed to providing products that meet the resource preservation regulations of the fishing area concerned. The products are fished according to the opening and closing seasons for fishing, fishing techniques, fishing quotas and minimum sizes, and are declared aligned to the criteria of the authorities. For tuna, our suppliers sign a specific charter that ensures a vigilant monitoring of histamine levels, at a standard 4 to 5 times higher than is expected in Europe. The charter also helps avoiding products treated with carbon monoxide. We have also developed a specific charter for farmed fish based on traceability and food safety. Food-based MBM (meat-and-bone meal) are banned as well as growth promoting antibiotics or growth hormones. All our farmed fish comes from EC certified farms. Our suppliers are concerned with the preservation of natural and fisheries resources and improve their choice of species, breeding sites and techniques, alimentation and feeding practices. Further, GMOs are completely prohibited in all the products we distribute.
QUALITY CONTROL SYSTEM
Our products are submitted to regular controls by the certifying bodies and within our internal units. Our fruit and vegetable departments carry out random checks 10 times a month: firmness, degrees Brix; size or labeling are controlled by refractometers and densitometers. Likewise our seafood department carries reinforced controls 3 times a month: we check minimum biological size, freshness, labeling, presence of parasites, temperature, use-by date…
Microbiological and surface analyses are conducted on fruit and vegetables, as well as the search for pesticides.
TRACEABILITY
Since the new European regulations of 2002 (178/2002/CE), we are committed to guaranteeing the security and transparency of information of our products. In our warehouses, products are closely traced: each reference is codified, some information is surveyed (use-by date, batch number, etc.), every customer’s order is kept for several years and stocks are controlled daily. The products are monitored during the shipment: we undertake audits of traceability with our suppliers, tests are carried on the road (temperature monitoring), and traceability indicators are followed.
According to our conditions, traceability is compulsory for our suppliers. In case of a problem, when a supplier and customer might be concerned with the quality of a product, we can identify it immediately with upstream or downstream traceability. If an incident arises, we set up a procedure for crisis management to block, recall, or remove the batch.
CERTIFICATIONS
Pomona was one of the first distributors to own the most certificates (Bureau VERITAS) in France and within Europe:
- ISO 22000 (Food Safety)
- ISO 9001 (Quality Management)
- ISO 14001 (Sustainable Management)
- Sustainable Agriculture
- MSC - Marine Stewardship council, sustainable fishing
- Max Havelaar
VALUES AND COMMITMENTS
Over the history of the Pomona Group and in strengthening the business, our employees have developed strong values in their working relationships with one another and with the company's customers. Also with harnessing the multiple skills and expertise across all of our branches, we are able to supply high quality products and services.
CUSTOMER-ORIENTED APPROACH
Our business is more than just selling products: it’s about providing service. Our success relies on customer satisfaction in our products and services. We listen to our customers and react quickly to an increasing demand. Quality approach enables us to measure our clients’ satisfaction and implement necessary actions. We strive every day to build strong and lasting relationships with our customers. As they guarantee the prosperity of our company, working with them should be a pleasure.
CONFIDENCE IN PEOPLE
Having confidence in people is one of our founding principles. We demonstrate it in the respect that we give our employees and for their diversity. We also rely on our employees to take responsibility and to delegate, and we encourage everyone to evolve within the Group. Moving forward is possible with individual actions: letting our team express themselves makes us progress, supporting their imagination helps us to develop the best solutions.
RESPECT
Respecting our commitments to people and their cultures is the fundamental principle to building relationships among our staff and in the relationships we build with you. With our partners and staff, our team agrees to comply every day with these commitments. Setting high standards, honesty, and vigilance are essential values the company can’t compromise on; they are applied to everyone. We respect people because we are all unique, and for the cultures around the world because we all have specific ways of thinking and working.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
We are aware of the challenges and issues related to our business and so we have formalized our commitment to sustainable development, with four areas of priority action:
- Adopt a collectively responsible approach with employees as well as partners
- Limit our environmental impact, especially with shipment and storage
- Assert our social responsibility
- Develop sustainable purchases and products.
EXCELLENCE
Everyday we put in our best to fulfill our tasks. Dynamism, precision and care for developing expertise are the words describing us the best. We’ve developed proficiency in the industry, quality know-how in our business, and an increased knowledge in our products.
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