ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE BOCUSE D'OR 2007

A WHOLESALE BUSINESS EXCLUSIVELY FOR INDEPENDENT RETAILERS, RESTAURANTS AND OTHER BUSINESS USERS

METRO Cash & Carry France is a wholesaler at the service of independent professionals. Customers’ needs are satisfied by a global approach to the supply of food products and the corresponding culinary equipment, consumables and office equipment. As market leader, METRO offers the very best products for all food businesses in the catering sector through control of origin, quality, freshness and traceability. It also provides complete solutions:

• Time-saving solutions such as ready-to-use products or prepared products that serve as a basis for the preparation of meals;
• Cost-saving solutions that help accommodate new shorter working-week regulations or reduce energy consumption.

METRO partners all catering professionals and, as such, has been involved for a number of years in major events such as the 2005 Bocuse d’Or Awards and the French selection for the 2007 Bocuse d’Or Awards.

It is important for METRO to be close to the professionals it serves daily.

In this way, METRO supports chefs, whether young or experienced, in an increasingly difficult business where competition is stiff and demands are more and more exacting.

Its ambition is to help chefs take up these challenges on a daily basis.

• Metro Cash & Carry France: key figures

Established since 1971, METRO Cash & Carry France currently operates 84 self-service stores throughout France for a total sales area of over 430,000 m2. With close to 30,000 references, METRO’s offering ranges from the supply of food products to the corresponding culinary equipment, but also professional consumables and office equipment.

In 2005, emphasis was placed on an upgrading of the fresh food offering (meats, fowl, seafood, fruit and vegetables, dairy products), as well as on METRO’s exclusive brands (“filière” products through partnerships with local and regional producers).

The company plans to open more than ten new stores over the next few years and has a staff of nearly 9,300 in France serving over one million clients, including 400,000 in the catering sector. 2005 turnover totalled EUR 3.5 billion (exclusive of VAT), with 85% of the total generated in the Food sector.

• The METRO Group in figures