South African topfruit exporter Betko will launch its popular Goal Fruit brand in the UK later this month as the country counts down the days to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which is due to kick off in June.
Betko, which supplies a range of apples and pears as well as table grapes, was one of the first South African exporters to take advantage of South Africa hosting the international football tournament when it first unveiled its Goal Fruit brand more than three years ago.
'It has been extremely successful in the South Africa and Africa and we are now launching exclusively with one of our partners in the UK who places value on promoting grower brands,' said Roux Groenewald, marketing director at Betko.
Betko is the fruit packing and marketing division of the Japie Groenewald Trust and is located at Villiersdorp in the Western Cape region of South Africa.
Mr Groenewald’s father, Japie Groenewald, who died recently in a car accident, founded the Trust's highly successful fruit growing and packing business during the past two decades.
'Taking Goal Fruit to the UK has always been a dream of my father and we were pleased that we could pack the first Packham pears this week,' said Mr Groenewald. 'They should be in the market by before the end of the month.'
Betko has selected Poupart Imports as its receiver in the UK. 'We appreciate the fact that Poupart Imports places so much emphasise on promoting grower brands and we believe Goal Fruit will fit in well with their portfolio,' added Mr Groenewald.
Welcoming the first shipments of Goal fruit to the UK, Jonathan Olins, managing director of Poupart Imports, noted that he had visited Betko's operations on a number of occasions and had always been impressed with its product quality and sophisticated infrastructure.
'The Villiersdorp region where Betko and its suppliers grow the fruit also produces fruit of outstanding eating quality,' Mr Olins commented. 'We believe Goal Fruit will be a winner, not only because we are able to launch it here during this World Cup, but because we believe we can grow it into our great supplier brands in future.'
According to Mr Groenewald, Goal Fruit has already done extremely well in South Africa, where people particularly in rural regions have reportedly been snapping up the fruit as the World Cup approaches.
He added: 'South Africa is definitely in World Cup mode and we are pleased to be part of the excitement.'
