After acquiring Belgian Origin’O, Dutch organic chain Ekoplaza has now also joined forces with Brussels-based Färm in order to increase its presence in Belgium. Contrary to Origin’O, however, Färm will remain as a separate chain.
Including wholesale
As the coronavirus pandemic caused havoc with sales of organic foods, a further consolidation in the sector looms. Färm, mainly active in Belgium’s French-speaking south, has teamed up with Dutch Ekoplaza that is mostly active in Belgium’s Dutch-speaking north. The press release calls the action a merger, but the Dutch chain is markedly bigger than its new partner.
After the acquisition of Origin’O and subsequent growth, Ekoplaza is approaching one hundred stores – fourteen of which are in Belgium. Moreover, the company also owns Belgian organic wholesaler Biofresh. Färm, on the other hand, is a cooperative with just shy of twenty stores.
Major national player
Merging Färm and Ekoplaza is creating “a strong player on the whole Belgian market”, the press release states. Färm founders Alexis Descampe and Lionel Wauters feel that both companies are better suited to deal with the challenges the organic market is dealing with if they tackle them together. Counting together both chains would indeed allow Ekoplaza to get quite near to its stated ambition of fifty Belgian stores.
Biofresh director Luc Dossche agrees: “We as market leaders in the 100 % organic market can directly profit from scale benefits regarding IT, logistics and product ranges. We can also share experiences with each other and strengthen the competitive position our stores have within the organic market”.
