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TASTY original Bahraini cold cuts of cooked meat have enabled a pioneering company to grab a slice of the action in a highly-competitive marketplace.
So popular are the Greedy Goose 'halal' concoctions that its parent company is now planning a major expansion throughout the region and into Europe.
Bahrain-based Airplate, a retail and wholesale food and beverage company, has been producing vacuum-packed, ready-to-eat cold cuts into the local market since 2009.
Company director Faisal Khalid Kanoo said: 'We wanted to produce locally-made fresh cold cuts as opposed to importing them from overseas. We have created a 'national pride' over the success of Greedy Goose. It showcases our capabilities and high-quality standards and our products are everywhere in the kingdom. I don't know a supermarket that doesn't have us on the shelves.
'Greedy Goose has been so warmly received and successful we are now on the verge of exporting our products throughout the region and beyond.'
The company was set up as a joint venture between Bahrain Airport Services at the Bahrain International Airport and EatCorp, a food and beverage management company, established in Bahrain in 2006.
Mr Kanoo described fellow board member Wolfgang Gortler as the 'Godfather' of Greedy Goose. He said: 'If not for him these tasty products would not have happened. He came up with pretty much everything in terms of the recipes and so on and has been extremely instrumental in its success.
'With the in-house capabilities of Bahrain Airport Services and Wolfgang's 40 years of food and hospitality experience we thought; why not get together and offer a product not only to the airlines but also to the retail and wholesale markets.'
The demand for Greedy Goose took off and continues to soar with a range of smoked salmon, smoked chicken breast, peppered and plain pastrami beef and smoked duck breast delights.
Mr Gortler, from Germany, senior manager of BAS catering services, said: 'Our objective was to keep the meat as it is ... purely meat. The chicken breast, for example, is simply chicken breast - just sliced up and packaged.
'If you compare these products to others on the market you will notice they are not frozen - so there is more consistency. There is also a skinless option for the health conscious individual and we provide recipes on the inside of the packages to help people make quick healthy meals for those on the go.'
The range of meats are sliced up, smoked with simple preservatives such as salt and packaged within BAS's own immaculate kitchen facilities on the island.
The Greedy Goose operation's team includes chefs, kitchen assistants, packaging, marketing and management.
Sadek Ebrahim, marketing and business developer of BAS, said: 'We have a high-tech food processing facility that exports throughout the region and the European markets. To our knowledge our facility is the first of its kind in the region.
'We cater to all kinds of airlines in terms of classes, meal and dietary requirements. The sky is the limit as far as what the airlines wish to have. We are the largest producers of meals on the island and are much bigger than any hotel here because we currently produce something like 20-25,000 meals a day.
'We even have the capacity to manufacture up to about 35-40,000 meals a day. We have very high standards and we are also now processing a lot of food to cater for the demand outside the airline industry.
'We figured rather than import everything frozen and then treating it here why not start the process ourselves? That way our customers get a much fresher product or meal service which is exactly what premium airline passengers expect.
'Once we had perfected the process we were able to develop the product line for the local market and work on exporting it.
'There is a growing demand for halal products and since this is something produced and manufactured in an Islamic country we feel there is a huge market out there and this is only the beginning.'
The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law.
Global exhibitions are being organised to promote it.
BAS produces about 12 to 15 tonnes of Greedy Goose products every month. The favourite of the range appears to depend on the area where it is being sold. In Saar, for example, the smoked salmon reigns supreme but in Riffa it's the chicken. And, according to Mr Gortler, smoked salmon and pastrami are the biggest sellers in Amwaj.
Mr Ebrahim said: 'We are starting to expand in the GCC but we do have Europe on the horizon.'
Mr Gortler added: 'We have already spoken to a couple of supermarkets in the UAE and they are very excited to get Greedy Goose on their shelves as soon as possible. There is a large demand for our products and we are always coming up with new recipes.'
