Leading Spanish organic supermarket chain Veritas is merging operations with its smaller competitor Ecorganic to create a business with 72 stores and projected sales in 2019 of EUR100 million.
The merged companies will maintain their own brand identities but benefit from integrated distribution and pooled resources.
Specialist organic chains have played a key role in helping to build Spain’s domestic market in recent years, but in doing so they have faced increased competition from mainstream supermarkets who are expanding quickly into organics.
Barcelona-headquartered Veritas currently operates 65 outlets across Catalonia. The business was launched in 2002 as a student project, and by 2018 was reporting sales of EUR82 million.
Catalan retailer Ecorganic operates seven stores, typically with around 6,000 lines. The business was founded 10 years ago on the proposition of making organic more accessible and affordable.
Veritas co-founder Silvio Elías says that with their “100% shared vision” the new alliance will “strengthen and expand a joint value proposition for clients and collaborators” and gain “a new impetus for the purpose of promoting organic, sustainable and socially fair food, in relationships with suppliers that goes beyond the commercial”.
• Organic Food Iberia, Spain’s leading trade event for the organic food industry, takes place in Madrid on 3-4 June 2020.