“However, if there were supermarkets only offering frozen products, there will be competition, and the domestic market will revive, and the export will increase. Any company will be able to present their products easily and increase their sales, and so Turkish economy will win in the end. Any company’s quality will become visible, and the frozen market will get enlarged. Turkish cuisine will be visible in many places, and the export will increase eventually. Turkish cuisine should get its rightful place in the world, and the only way to do this is to increase the frozen market. As a consequence of the export, Turkey will have USD 2 billion.”
Yunus Ulupınar
CEO of Mertem Food Technologies and ANKO Food Machinery
Turkey’s agriculture and food sector should freeze their products. Turkish cuisine should increase its share and export in the ready-food sector with its richest, varied, and delicious dishes. Vegetables, fruits, grains cultivated in the most fertile land of the world should turn into ready-food and be stored.
The culture of storing food by shocks in Turkey is very low because of the family culture. Since working mothers prepare their foods made ready by their mothers or grandmothers, these working mothers have not used frozen food much. But working mothers will turn to frozen products because of downsized family structure and increase of the industrial foods, which become cheaper than the home cooked foods. Inevitably, ready-foods will develop step by step in Turkey.
In many countries, twenty percent of the people eat at home and eighty percent eat outside, while in our country the situation is the opposite, but this will change in a short period of time. For this, we need to prepare infrastructures quickly. We must plan industrial investments. For example, Greece that has around twelve million people has around fifty frozen good ready-food factories. One of these exports four hundred tons of borek on monthly basis. However, there are only fifteen frozen food producers in Turkey that has eighty million people. We need to increase the number of these factories.
However, our industrialists do not know enough information about the frozen products. We need to provide training on this. There are no people that know the meaning of +4 / -40 / -18 and how these are used. A product is shocked at -40 and rested -18 and stored +4 for selling.
COMPETITION TO INCREASE IF FROZEN FOOD MARKETS ARE LAUNCHED
In fact, we need to have supermarkets in order to sell frozen products because prominent companies occupy a place in those markets and prevent and limit other brands having a place. Many new companies that try to enter in the market are unable to produce and display varieties of food as marketing opportunities for new products are limited. Many went bankrupt in a short period of time. However, if there were supermarkets only offering frozen products, there will be competition, and the domestic market will revive, and the export will increase. Any company will be able to present their products easily and increase their sales, and so Turkish economy will win in the end. Any company’s quality will become visible, and the frozen market will get enlarged. Turkish cuisine will be visible in many places, and the export will increase eventually. Turkish cuisine should get its rightful place in the world, and the only way to do this is to increase the frozen market. As a consequence of the export, Turkey will have USD 2 billion.
I am saying the following based on my experience in the food machinery sector of twenty-five years in at least twenty countries: We have to appreciate the value of any product cultivated in the fertile land of the most beautiful country of the world. There are countries that cannot cultivate onion, potato, apple, and orange. If we do not see these early on, we miss them. We have to appreciate the value of any product in Turkey. We have to cook and sell after making them frozen. The frozen food sector – a new opportunity to pave ways to strengthen our economy – we have to develop the frozen sector and support.
