METRO Cash and Carry LLC

Information about METRO Cash & Carry LLC

METRO is a leading international wholesale company with food and non-food assortments that specializes on serving the needs of hotels, restaurants and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent traders. Around the world, METRO has some 16 million customers who can choose whether to shop in one of the large-format stores, order online and collect their purchases at the store or have them delivered. METRO in addition also supports the competitiveness of entrepreneurs and own businesses with digital solutions and thereby contributes to cultural diversity in retail and hospitality. Sustainability is a key pillar of METRO’s business. METRO has been the European sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The company operates in 34 countries and employs more than 100,000 people worldwide.

METRO in Kazakhstan

METRO is present in Kazakhstan as METRO Cash&Carry brand since 2008. Since market entry, the store network grew continuously, leading to METRO now being present in 10 regions of the country. Having invested over 135 million euro, the company operates 6 stores in Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Karaganda, Shymkent, Pavlodar, and Ust-Kamenogorsk, as well as 6 wholesale warehouses exclusively for professional customers in Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktobe, Aktau, Atyrau, and Uralsk. Today, the company employs about 1,000 people.

Collaboration with Businesses

METRO is a leading international wholesale network for business customers, offering a wide range of products and services, expert solutions and innovative ideas, driven by the sole purpose of ensuring that its customers succeed in their own businesses. Firstly, one of the competitive advantages of METRO is the range of its own brands, due to which the company can offer a more favorable price and at the same time not lose on the margin. METRO has brands specially designed to meet the needs of HoReCa customers - these are METRO Chef, METRO Professional, RIOBA. They are produced for the HoReCa segment, and everyone can use them, including at home. ARO, Fine Life and Tarrington House products are the best value for money in their price range.

METRO closely cooperates with local producers and thereby takes a key role in creating a more competitive, sustainable and innovative agricultural sector in Kazakhstan. For example, in cooperation with KazBeef METRO offers premium meat for the HoReCa segment that meets international quality standards. The company is also developing cooperation with local farmers. Training of independent traders is important to METRO. For this, the School for Traders and Farmers was launched in October 2019 together with the Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan in order to develop and train local entrepreneurs.

Every year METRO Kazakhstan organizes Own Business Day for representatives of the restaurant and hotel business, catering companies, as well as traders in order to help entrepreneurs develop their own businesses.

In November 2019, a gastronomy platform was established in the METRO store in the capital city of Kazakhstan. Gastro City serves as a professional space for small and medium-sized businesses in the HoReCa sector, where they can find reliable suppliers of high quality goods and services, as well as improve skills of their staff. Part of Gastro City is the Restaurant Art and Management School “RIM” accredited at the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs.

METRO Quality

METRO Kazakhstan pays huge attention to high quality of sold products. For this reason, the company introduced its Quality Standard uniting HACCP, international corporate standards, as well as legislative requirements of Kazakhstan. In December 2019 METRO Kazakhstan received its international FSSC 22000 compliance certificate. Thus, METRO sets the standards on the Kazakhstani food market.

Sustainable Development

Sustainable development and corporate social responsibility are essential elements of METRO Kazakhstan’s business strategy.

METRO contributes to the training of young professionals in the HoReCa segment and is an official partner of the international World Skills contest at regional and national levels.

METRO Kazakhstan is a committed partner of the Red Crescent Society, an international humanitarian movement, and supports vulnerable groups of population.

Furthermore, the company takes care of environment and collaborates with waste processing companies. Following its worldwide practice, METRO was one of the first companies in Kazakhstan to sell plastic bags and transfer the income from the bag sales for charity. Thus, the company contributed to acquaint Kazakhstan consumers with the culture of conscious consumption and waste reduction and set standards for the entire country. Now this practice is widely used in national trade.

Link to the company’s website: https://www.metro.com.kz/