The Saudi company Bateel Dates, however, has progressed some way on the commercial journey akin to that of the humble oyster which, only a couple of centuries ago, was food for the masses that could not afford meat.
Oysters are now firmly established as a luxury food with their own mythology justifying the price tag. Now it is the turn of dates. Bateel Dates based in Al-Ghat 250 km north of Riyadh is the driving force in the change of world’s perception of the humble date.
Some 21 years ago the current CEO inherited an unremarkable date grove in the fertile and water-blessed plains below the towering escarpment that overlooks Al Ghat. Like other farms in the area, which was already famous for the quality and quantity of its dates, the trees yielded decent quality dates that were sold into the local and national markets.
There was no real need to change but the new owner wondered whether there might be a prospect for a shift upmarket of an established food.
The result is that Bateel Dates are now more a gourmet food company than date company, producing dates on an industrial scale but with the gourmet end of the output comprising dates and date products that have redefined the staple fruit as a “must have” brand.
To support the kind of production techniques that Bateel uses to produce a high quality of date requires the kind of price level that only the premium market can supply. That kind of price acceptance was not available in the local market at the time and in effect in an act of commercial faith the company created a new niche market for their product.
“We had to sell dates in pretty much the same way premium chocolates are sold in Europe,” said Managing Director Ata Atmar. “In 20 years we have become a world brand.” They are now in 15 countries from Malaysia to Europe and the No. 1 brand in the UAE.
The bases of the company’s success are the relentless drive for quality through the production chain from farming to retailing, vertical integration that stretches from tree to boutique and the constant search for innovative ways of marketing dates. This approach is expensive, it yields top quality produce and requires high sale prices to sustain it; the model works and Bateel gets the prices.
“We get for one kilo what the mass market gets for 50. Fifty percent of Bateel dates are sold in our own boutiques — the very top end,” said Atmar.
A second brand Jamara, launched some three years ago, are marketed through for supermarkets. The dates are just as good in terms of taste and nourishment and grown on the same farms. The difference between these and the Bateel brand is that they may not have the perfect color of the “A” grade dates or may have very slight surface blemishes. Many are used in downstream date products — Italian baked biscotti, for example.
Dates are a valuable and concentrated food source. Apart from proteins, fiber and carbohydrates, they have high levels of vitamins and trace elements, are antioxidant and are the only fruit with the natural amino acid lactin, otherwise found only in milk. “The question is,” said Atmar, “how do you make dates as commonplace as apples? If the government wants to promote dates, I think this is one area they should support, to create awareness worldwide. And we can help.”
Saudi Arabia is a capital-intensive country and dates are a labor-intensive product. In the growing season one person can service about 600 trees, but in three months of the run up to and the picking season, the number increases drastically 200 plus for the 18,000 or so trees in the farms. To make money it needs a variety of value added products.
“That’s why we are probably the only people to make money out of dates without a government subsidy,” he said. “We are going to make products such as date honey, and provide creative new uses for dates. Government programs focus on supply increase – very little on creativity and new uses.”
Ali Al-Rashid, vice president, said that in 1989 to buy dates in Riyadh, “You had to go to the vegetable market where you could buy it in tin cans with insects and dust.” Even in 1995 at an international food exhibition in London, Saudi Arabia was not seen as an exporter of dates; the producers were Spain and North Africa.
By 1999, Bateel had introduced them to supermarkets — now it is standard produce during the season when fresh and all year round packaged and preserved. Even so, between 95 and 97 percent of Saudi’s dates are consumed in the Kingdom, largely in date products.
“Saudi Arabia doesn’t spend much on advertising this product. There have been discussions in export committees and the chamber of commerce that instead of giving a government subsidy to grow dates, of which we have enough, subsidize the export of dates,” said Al-Rashid.
Atmar added that in many countries there are only a few varieties of dates. “In Saudi Arabia we alone offer about 20 varieties. Saudi Arabia’s varied climate allows different varieties to flourish — use that.” Overall there are about 300 varieties of dates grown in the Kingdom to choose from.
Bateel has created a whole new market segment that many others are trying to get into. The company over 20 years has demonstrated the versatility of the fruit is limited only by the imagination and attention to the details at every stage of production.
What distinguishes Bateel in the industry is the vertically integrated structure of the company from the farm to retail boutique stores in prime locations. Everything from plants and the business of growing through grading, processing, packaging and storage to final retailing of the premium products is under the company’s control.
“If you don’t have control at all those levels, you are not going to produce the kind of dates we do,” said Atmar. “The US world standard for infestation for dates is five percent — and we have now achieved zero. It has taken us 20 years to get there and we have done it without using chemical pesticides.”
Al-Rashid noted that the company’s farming process is entirely organic, from fertilizer to organic pesticides. “We are registered as an organic farm and will receive the certification in 2012,” he said. Organic fertilizer — mulch with some animal fertilizer — is made on the premises and minerals added to the fertilizer originate from organic sources. Mulching seals the ground to reduce weed growth.
“We have done this for a long time because we think it is good practice — it’s good for us, good for the environment in long term and therefore the dates. We can’t use that in our marketing campaign yet but once we are fully certified we will.”
Bateel has moved, over a couple of decades, from a date company to gourmet food company using dates. Flagship products are the chocolate covered dates that sell at a huge premium in the company’s boutique outlets and reflect the quality of the date used.
Other products under the Bateel banner and characterize, including date Balsamic Vinegar and sparkling date drink, the innovative thinking that keeps the company ahead of the competition. One product, Dhibs — or date syrup — has been created to take on the maple syrup in the supermarket sector.
The leap of faith that took the commercial date from familiar part of a normal Saudi diet to sought-after, high-return luxury gourmet delicacy has fully been justified and points out the potential that the fruit, whose mother tree dominates the Kingdom’s national crest, has on the world market.
