MEETING WITH THE DIRECTOR OF THE GRAL NETWORK FOR THE 27TH RENCONTRES FOURNISSEURS DISTRIBUTEURS

Inter­view with Frédéric Rousseau, GRAL Net­work Dir­ect­or, for the 27^th Ren­contres Fourn­is­seurs Dis­trib­uteurs, which took place from March 21 to 22 in Halls 3 and 4 of the Centre Inter­na­tion­al de Deau­ville.

COULD YOU DEFINE WHAT THE GRAL IS?

GRAL is an Eco­nom­ic Interest Group­ing (EIG) made up of inde­pend­ent com­pan­ies serving the food ser­vice and tra­di­tion­al retail sec­tors, based through­out France and Bel­gi­um. Our net­work is made up of 60 food whole­saler-dis­trib­ut­ors and over 230 French and European suppliers.

HOW DID THE EVENT UNFOLD?

The event con­sisted in bring­ing sup­pli­ers and whole­salers togeth­er over 2 days.

On the morn­ing of the first day, a speed-dat­ing ses­sion took place, where sup­pli­ers met the whole­salers present on the vari­ous stands. Every 15 minutes, a rota­tion takes place, allow­ing sup­pli­ers to see a good num­ber of whole­salers in one morning.

This speed-dat­ing format cre­ates a dynam­ic atmo­sphere at the show, while enabling sup­pli­ers and whole­salers to meet in a way they would­n’t neces­sar­ily have done at a tra­di­tion­al trade show.

A sit-down lunch is organ­ized at lunch­time, provid­ing an oppor­tun­ity for friendly dis­cus­sion around a table.

In the after­noon, the roles were reversed, and it was the whole­salers’ turn to meet the sup­pli­ers on their stands and taste their products.

Finally, the day ended with a gala even­ing at the Casino Bar­rière Deau­ville.

The fol­low­ing day, the par­ti­cipants (sup­pli­ers and whole­salers) met up again for a second morn­ing of discussions.

WHO ARE THE GRAL PARTICIPANTS AND WHERE DO THEY COME FROM?

Par­ti­cipants include sup­pli­ers from all over France and abroad, as well as all Groupe­ment mem­ber wholesalers.

WHY HOLD THE SHOW IN DEAUVILLE?

This annu­al event travels to dif­fer­ent towns in France every year, but this is the second time we’ve come back to Deau­ville in 15 years. Every year, we choose a dif­fer­ent town that’s eas­ily access­ible, since our mem­bers come from all over France. A town with good road, rail and air­port links is essen­tial to the organ­iz­a­tion of this annu­al con­ven­tion. The advant­age of Deau­ville is that everything can be done on foot, without the need for trans­port (bus, shuttle…). What’s more, the del­eg­ates were accom­mod­ated in vari­ous hotels with­in walk­ing dis­tance of the Centre Inter­na­tion­al de Deauville.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE CID DEAUVILLE FOR THE GRAL?

What’s inter­est­ing about the Pal­ais des Con­grès is being able to have on the same site an exhib­i­tion area where par­ti­cipants can exchange ideas on stands, and an area ded­ic­ated to cater­ing, includ­ing cof­fee breaks organ­ized by the Centre Inter­na­tion­al de Deau­ville cater­ing team. The fact of being able to put products to the test is also a plus, as our busi­ness as a cater­ing dis­trib­ut­or involves tast­ing, which is essen­tial to the selec­tion of sup­pli­ers and products.