Around 30 company and marketing managers from firms inside and outside Mercabarna attended a course entitled “Strategic Customer Management” organised by the Barcelona Food Cluster Association and held on 13 March.
The Barcelona Food Cluster Association and ACC1Ó (the Government of Catalonia’s Competitiveness for Catalonia agency) organised the first foodservice sector Strategic Immersion Congress, held in Món Sant Benet (Bages) on 21 and 22 February.
The national wholesale market company Mercasa came to Mercabarna on 19 January to present a pioneering initiative to boost sector sales. The initiative is Mercachef, an e-commerce platform for the companies in the 23 wholesale markets in Spain. Wholesale companies that register for the platform can use it to sell their products to restaurant-sector professionals and retail traders.
Mercabarna is, increasingly, a centre of commercial interest for professionals with businesses in the food sector. During 2011 the number of potential customers who contacted the Mercabarna Customer Service Office (OAC) for advice on how to buy fresh produce at the market was up by 15% on 2010.
1 March is the date chosen for disconnecting the analogue landline system at Mercabarna. This means that, from that date on, the 550 businesses which form part of the closed user group in the Mercabarna telecommunications network, operated by Orange, will no longer be able to use their analogue phones and will only be able to use the digital units that have been installed in business premises since May.
Some 200 florists attended the floral art demonstration for weddings organised by Mercabarna-flor, the Wholesale Business Association (AEM) and the Rosa Valls-formación school on 20 February. The occasion warranted the turnout, because you don’t get to see a demonstration by such an exceptional artist as the current European floral art champion, Natalia Zhizhko, every day.
Representatives of the national beef pricing board, which includes Mercolleida, the Talavera de la Reina meat exchange and Mercabarna, paid tribute to Víctor Trigueros, who recently retired from the Mercabarna Slaughterhouse management team after 21 years, thanking him for his collaboration with and contribution to the price-setting board over the years.
The Fish Wholesalers’ Business Association (GMP) has implemented an initiative to modernise the sales process between wholesalers and retailers. The initiative has seen the creation of a purchaser’s card, a document which will be required from now on when buying products at any of the Central Fish Market businesses.
Mercapalma will become the first municipal wholesale market in Spain to implement the same telecommunications model as Mercabarna. This means that businesses at the Balearic food estate will form part of the closed user group of the Mercabarna telecommunications network (operated by Orange) and enjoy the same rates, provisions and advantages on mobile- and landline-telephone and Internet services (cost reductions, advanced telecommunications services, fewer breakdowns, etc.).
A new Alimentaria trade fair, the international reference point for professionals in the food and beverage distribution industry, will be held at the Gran Via site of Fira de Barcelona from 26 to 29 March.
