From Old Stereotypes to New Realities: Reshaping the Perception of Eastern Mediterranean Products

When we first got into the food business back in the days in Turkey and wanted to expand into new markets like the EU, UK and USA, we realized that Eastern Mediterranean and especially Turkish products weren't considered to be a modern brand. The distributors we wanted to work with said we could only do well in the ethnic food market and eventually in the aisle. And they were only prepared to work with us if we changed our packaging to old and poor-looking products for these markets. We didn't want to do that and it wasn't just us. It was the same for every other brand in our region. It was frustrating. Why did we have to fit into these "fake" categories? 

The other bias was that the Eastern Mediterranean region was all about importing raw materials at really low prices and then having them packaged in the countries of the West, by the Western brand owners. By doing so, manufacturers were constantly leaving money on the table. And it was addictive for them. Because it was easy money. All they had to do was do the same thing over and over again. But it was a fragile position to be labelled a wholesaler or a raw material supplier region. For example, the moment you had to raise your prices just a little bit, maybe because you didn't have enough crops that year because of the high temperatures, you could lose all your customers. Because that is the nature of being a wholesaler. You don't have much to choose from. 

So, after a lot of thinking and trying to come up with ideas of what we could do and change about that, we wanted to show the manufacturers and the brand owners that someone from the region could operate wherever they wanted to, however they wanted to.

We are just getting started, and we’re on a mission to prove that Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern entrepreneurs could achieve what the Asian fellow entrepreneurs achieved around the world. Because just as one storm cannot encompass the entire world, a second one is needed to complement and amplify the impact. The first was Asian. And that second storm is the Mediterranean, where flavors and traditions intertwine to create a unique narrative of taste and culture.