Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Photos by: Marko Vitas
For five consecutive years Mercator has been implementing a very original and interesting campaign with their suppliers among rural farms and cooperatives. Being aware that the success of the trade depends on the quality of the domestic products, Mercator has joined forces with its small suppliers and enabled them to socialize, exchange experiences, acquire new knowledge and promote their products, for which they otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity. Marketing is mainly consumer-oriented, but in order to satisfy consumers, you have to have quality suppliers. In the flood of foreign products on the shelves of all retail chains, local, small suppliers find it difficult to find a way to the shelves. Mercator has been changing this for five years, allowing small enterprises to reach the shelves with produce from their fields and co-operatives.
Thus, Mercator organized a three-day market for domestic products in Ljubljana. There were 27 small processors and producers from Slovenia. The visitors had the opportunity to taste various homemade delicacies. The exhibitors were joined by celebrities Jernej Damjan, Ula Furlan, Klemen Bučan and other celebrities from the world of sports and entertainment. Together with the suppliers, they presented and promoted domestic products to support the local home-grown food.
The fair represents the completion of a series of eight events of educational and social nature that Mercator, together with the Cooperative Association of Slovenia, organized in May and June for local farms and cooperatives throughout Slovenia. Events are organized within the Academy We love domestic with the aim to strengthen cooperation with existing and potentially new suppliers in retailer’s We Love Local offer.
Stand up comedian Klemen Bučan explained what local means to him: “I must say that I am a big fan of domestic food. Now I live in a city, but I was born and raised in the countryside. For years I had lunch with my grandmother, and my parents still buy bread and salami from local processors in the surrounding villages, and when I visit them, I often get ‘something to take home’. If I had to choose the best food in my life, it would no doubt be the homemade bread, preferably from a bread oven. If it comes with home-made salami – I need nothing else. Homemade rules!”
Domestic food also has a significant place in the life of TV host Ula Furlan: “Today, almost every weekend with my mother I call my aunt Tina and ask her whether she has cooked her beef soup. I thus actually ask her to ‘reserve’ the two best chairs at the table in her kitchen. Homemade Sunday lunch is always a symbol of what nourishes, makes us happy and keeps our family together. I always liked to stay in the kitchen when family members cooked something. Often I would go to the garden to help pick the fresh strawberries, and today in my mom’s balcony I pick fresh parsley, mint or basil. I like to eat outside in good restaurants, but more than that, I like to eat at home when home-made salads are on the menu, the ‘non-plastic’ tomato that is rich in juice and flavour, a fresh young cheese and home-baked bread. Homemade food best suits my stomach and symbolizes the memories of family and love. Homemade is homely, homemade rules!”
The fair organized by Mercator is proof that domestic food connects Slovenians. A wide range of domestic products of Slovenian cooperatives, local farms and small local producers, marked in red letters Volim domaće, represents the upgrade of Mercator’s offer “From domestic areas”. Mercator, The best neighbour, began promoting the products of small Slovenian producers with this campaign in 2012, as the first Slovenian retailer to do so. Among the large number of domestic goodies in Mercator, today there are about 900 types of domestic products from more than 20 Slovenian cooperatives and 100 local farms and producers.