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Metro China presents at Hotelex Shanghai 2008
showcasing core competence in hospitality
Shanghai, 1st April, 2008 – the international leading wholesaler,
Metro presented at the Hotelex Shanghai 2008 in the Shanghai New
International Expo Center. During the four-day exhibition, Metro
showcased its unique business concept of Cash & Carry and its core
competence in products such as hospitality equipment, supplies, etc. At
the same time, the company disclosed its turnover in the previous year in
Chinese market: the net revenue of Metro China in 2007 grew by 18.5% to
9.52 billion RMB.
As the leader in self-service wholesale business in
the world, HoReCa (Hotels, Restaurants, and Caterers) are the key
customer groups of Metro. Therefore, the company has been one of the
major exhibitors of the International Hospitality Equipment & Supply
Expo for many years. During the 4-day expo, Metro showcased a rich variety
of products, high-quality environment-friendly equipments, as wells its
state-of-the-art food safety management system Hazard Analysis and
Critical Control Points (HACCP) on an exhibition area of 108 square
meters.
“HoReCa customers are one of our core customer groups” says
Philippe Bacac, General Manager of Metro China Business Unit East, “With
the constant quality improvement and business solutions which specially
address the needs of business customers such as restaurants, hotels and
caterers, Metro has become the most reliable and valuable partner for the
customers.” On the other hand, HoReCa customers have been the driving
force for the sales growth in the past years for the company. According
to the latest figures disclosed by the company, the net revenue of Metro
China in 2007 grew by 18.5% to 9.52 billion RMB. Four stores were opened
in 2007 which brought the store number up to 37 all over China. The
employee number reached more than 8,300 until the end of last year.
At the exhibition, the booth of Metro consists of two
functional areas: the product display area and the food quality assurance
area. In the product display area, the glasses, porcelain, coffee makers
and kitchen equipment from all over the world attracted great interest
from visitors. Moreover, a forum with the topic “Eco-efficient Hotel
Forum” will be held during the Hotelex 2008 Shanghai expo. In line with
this theme, Metro has set up a special area for environmental-friendly
products such as various water-and air-purifiers. Further to the live
display, the company will also pass on professional know-how to the
visitors and industry insiders on the efficient environmental-friendly
solutions. In addition, as a socially responsible multinational company,
Metro China, as early as 1996, when the company entered the Chinese
market, has implemented the charged plastic shopping bags throughout all
the outlets. As the first mover and pioneer in advocating environment
protection, this measure has been preserved for more than 12 years.
At the area for food quality assurance system display,
Metro focused on the presentation of the industry-leading HACCP food
safety management system. By far, 35 Metro stores in China have passed
HACCP audit. By the middle of this year, all of the 37 Metro stores are
expected to receive the authoritative certificate, which is commonly
known as the “Aeronautics Food Safety System”. HACCP will help the
company to establish a systematic preventive approach to analyze and
control the risks for the critical points during the entire process from
food production and processing, transportation, goods receiving, storage,
and sales, and thereby to minimize the hazards of food safety in a whole.
As the 2008 Olympic Games and the World Expo Shanghai
walk towards us, some of the hotels are expanding in China at a rate of
200%-300%, and new brands keep on emerging and expanding to smaller
cities throughout the country. So far, Metro is serving over 3 million
professional customers all over the country. The increasing perception
and recognition on the business model of Metro from the customers will
provide an even wider and more potential market for Metro to continue to
expand in China, especially in the small-and-medium cities.
Contact:
Kevin Chen
PR Manager – Media Affairs
METRO Jinjiang Cash & Carry Co., Ltd.
1425 Zhenbei Road
200333 Shanghai
Tel: + 86 21 2207 8012
Fax: + 86 21 2207 6602
Email: libin.chen@metro.com.cn
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