Care for fruits at your work station?

Dubai - At least 3 companies in Dubai deliver assorted seasonal fruits to offices

Fancy a bunch of grapes beside your (Apple) desktop? Dubai is never far behind when it comes to keeping up with trends in the west. Following a successful business model in Europe and America, at least three fruit-delivery businesses in Dubai now deliver nectarines and mangosteen and peaches and plums or even bananas and apples and berries - whatever you like - to your office.
Companies such as The Fruit Basket, The Fruit Box ME, and Fruit4Life are now delivering to hundreds of offices across Dubai. The companies deal with employees directly, too, but in several cases, HR departments finance the fruit. Evidently there are still believers in the power of healthy eating, even in a society steeped in the shawarma-doughnut-biryani-cupcake culture.
While the prices are more steep than what you'd pay for fruit if you went yourself and bought them at the fruit and vegetable market, or at the supermarkets, what you're paying for is the packaging - how it looks, the baskets, the boxes, the delivery, the convenience of the service, and of course, the fruits themselves.
So a two-kg basket from The Fruit Basket - the smallest size available - costs Dh45. The four kg costs Dh75. The 15kg size is Dh225. They deliver once a week, on Sundays. But can deliver more often. One can also customise the orders and selection of fruits. "We're very flexible," says co-founder of The Fruit Basket, Areni Ararat, who has been in Dubai for five years. "I'm from Sweden, and we're very health-oriented." Ararat says she does a lot of the deliveries herself.
"We deliver all over Dubai." They have about a 100 offices on their client list. From "big industrial companies to hip media companies to financial companies to hospitals and clinics. We've noticed that health has nothing to do with industry, age, sex or how healthy you already are. Everyone wants to become or keep living healthy.
Different fruit delivery companies need different advance notice for getting you your fruit. Be warned though if you're like the hordes who couldn't be bothered to slice their own pineapples, all these deliveries are whole fruits.
The Fruit Box ME was launched in August, the baby of Linda Lu, and because it's so new, still needs a week's notice. Linda is Australian-Vietnamese. "We deliver everyday except Friday." They start with a 6kg box for Dh90. There's a 12 kg box for Dh160. And a 24 kg box - "which no one orders," laughs Linda - for Dh275.
The Fruit Basket is a year old. And Fruit4Life has been around for two years.
Fruit4Life was founded by Alex Sfeir and Romain Ollivier. The two met on an Emirates flight to Paris, and hit it off. They discussed a business plan around fruits and launched their company. Sfeir used to be the sales manager at the Mall of the Emirates store of Prada. But now he's found his passion. A small box (kilogram unspecified) for 2 to 4 people is for Dh99.
Sfeir says: "Romain is a country boy from the region of Normandie where since he was born he only ate organic fruits and veggies from his own farm. I am a Parisian city boy living in Dubai for the last six years." The two have cultivated a high-end client list. They've partnered with Evian, the drinking water. Besides fruits, this company also delivers nuts to offices, and vegetables to homes.
They source their produce from small farms across the Emirates, but also from some in France. While they're all relatively new companies, neither admits to being affected by competition in the market. "There are so many offices in Dubai," says Ararat. It's good if other companies too promote the concept of healthy eating."
nivriti@khaleejtimes.com
 

• UAE
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