Erol SIMSEK: Simsek Biskuvi General Manager Stating that their company has been among the top 500 industry giants for 5 years despite it is a young company, Simsek Biskuvi General Manager Erol SIMSEK said, “We have got a rapid rise chart for 2 years. I believe that the most important points bringing success to us are productivity growth and innovative products.” and added: “We are fed from the power of innovative products”. Simsek Biskuvi is one of the most prominent companies of the biscuit industry in Turkey recently. As one of the young companies in the industry, Simsek has progressed significantly in the 18-year period. Bringing innovative products with a good advertisement, marketing and communication strategy; the company has become prominent especially with the brand Bien. Being among the top 500 industry giants today, the company’s General Manager Erol Simsek summarizes their success as following: “The tendencies of the consumers should be watched properly and their expectations should be followed consistently. Besides, we should follow the agenda strictly thus we can keep up requirements of the era and adapt our products for all expectations. Therefore, progressing in a straight line with continuous development and being a company that can meet the requirements of the era is like the key of success according to me.” We discussed the success, investments, activities in the domestic and foreign markets and objectives of Simsek Biskuvi with the General Manager Erol Simsek. Mr. Erol, Simsek Biskuvi has gained a significant success in a short time despite it is a young company. As we know, you are among the top 500 large companies of Turkey today. Firstly, could you tell us the establishment process of your company, how you have come today and the secret of your success you got in a short time? Yes, that is correct. Despite we are 18-year young company among the top 500 industry giants of Turkey for the last 5 years. We have got a rapid rise chart for 2 years. I believe that the most important points bringing success to us are productivity growth and innovative products. The snack industry is a very active industry. Thus the tendencies of the consumers should be watched properly and their expectations should be followed consistently. Besides, we should follow the agenda strictly thus we can keep up requirements of the era and adapt our products for all expectations. Therefore, progressing in a straight line with continuous development and being a company that can meet the requirements of the era is like the key of success according to me. Established in 1996 by my father Ramazan Simsek, our company was born in Karaman where the most fertile wheat of the Central Anatolia is grown. Today, we keep quality in the forefront in the facility at Karaman Organized Industrial Zone and we make production on a contemporary level with modern investments by following the technological developments in the world. We have grown and progressed with the exports. We have always used our gains as investments in our country. We intensely concentrate on the domestic market as well. The days of growing by being branded are coming for us. We are already a big brand in many countries with our corporate brand ‘Simsek’. There are countries where our spontaneous recognition is 50% but we have changed our strategy. We created umbrella brands and product families. We determined the target groups and shaped the positioning according to those groups. The amount of the investment we have made on the production and storage in the last 3 years is over 20 million Euros. Our new storage activated in 2011 and operated completely with information technology has been a model project in the industry. With an international organization for the first time in 2012, we brought together our dealers in 5 continents with the dealers and chain stores in Turkey. Again in 2012, we commissioned our new production lines, invested on the facilities operating with full automation. We reached 250 million-TL turnover target in 2012. We realized more than 60% of this amount with exports. Could you give information on your production facilities, technological equipment, capacity and overall product variety? We make production with the advanced technology in our facilities with totally 135.000 square meter area 90.000 square meter of which is open and 45.000 square meter of which is closed. We have over 1400 employees and have over 300 product varieties. We realize 27 thousand tons of biscuit, 6 thousand tons of waffle, 25 thousand tons of cake, 8 thousand tons of cracker, 25 thousand tons of chocolate, 10 thousand tons of croissant and 100 thousand tons of production in total annually. The amount of the investment we have made on the production and storage in the last 3 years is over 20 million Euros. Our new storage activated in 2011 and operated completely with information technology has been a model project in the industry. With an international organization for the first time in 2012, we brought together our dealers in 5 continents with the dealers and chain stores in Turkey. Again in 2012, we commissioned our new production lines, invested on the facilities operating with full automation. What can you say about the potential and sales volume of your company in the domestic and foreign market? Could you give information on your export markets, with which products you have become prominent and the interest of your foreign customers for you? While our growing company was making exports to 4 countries 15 years ago, today it makes sales in over 100 countries from Europe to Africa, from Asia and Australia to America. When the sales figures are reviewed; today over 20 packages of Simsek product is consumed per second in different countries throughout the world. Opening to South Africa after Middle East and North Africa, Turkey’s first domestic croissant Bien has reached to Cape of Good Hope with South Africa after Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania. Proving that it is a strong player on the global scale as well with the products in waffle, cake, cracker, biscuit, croissant and chocolate groups; Simsek Biskuvi has a market share over 20% in the some of the foreign target markets. You have become prominent in Turkey especially with the brand Bien. Even it is not wrong to say that it is the Bien brand meeting the consumers in Turkey with croissant in real terms. Even though you have many other brands and products, how do you explain that Bien is loved by the consumers this much and become prominent in the market? We have made 12 million-Euro investment for Bien croissant which was put on the market at the beginning of 2013. We have got a rising sales chart in the market. Turkish people recognized and loved croissant with Bien brand. We have got a high sales momentum with the successful advertisement campaign. We can say that Bien croissant is the joint success of advertisement-marketing and communication with its power of being an extraordinary product. Besides croissant, you released many other products to the market. Could you give information on the new products that you have released to the market in the recent years? Besides Bien Croissant product group, we have other brands such as Tio and Roxy. For instance, Tio Haydi- Goat Milk Biscuit is an innovative product. It is unique in the market. It becomes prominent with its nutritional values. Mothers prefer it for their kids. Roxy is the umbrella brand of our chocolate bar and waffle groups. We will strengthen these brands with the advertisement campaigns this year. We are fed from the power of innovative products. We started this year with new products. We packaged cheesecake for the first time in the world and Bien Cheesecake has taken its place on the sales shelves. Bien Cheesecake has already started to take its place among our indispensable products. Besides we will continue our extraordinary product groups this year. We made 30 million-TL investment in total for innovation with Bien Croissant and Cheesecake. Our investments will continue. What kind of investments will be made by Simsek Biskuvi in the next period in terms of facility, technology and new product? We started new projects and activities on the construction industry in Karaman and Istanbul. We have had many construction projects in Karaman for 20 years. Now we are construction a branded residential project on the European side of Istanbul. Besides, luxurious residential construction has started under the name of Prestige Residences in Karaman. The project will be completed in 2014. On the other hand, we are planning to be the raw milk supplier of the packaged milk producers. We will make 50 million-lira investment in the next 4 years for the dairy farming facility to be established on 7 thousand-acre land and we will improve the bovine breeding in Karaman. The project’s foundations were laid. We consider activating it in 2015 by progressing gradually. Finally, what can you say about your future targets on your company’s potential and sales volumes in the market? We reached a turnover of 330 million TL last year. We will continue to concentrate on the products that are not in the Turkish market. Our turnover target for 2015 will be 500 million TL.