COVID-19 Measure: Read Full Magazine Here. Food is a simple noun that carries so much weight, and means something different to every person. On a basic level, food is a necessity; food powers our bodies and structures our days, but on a deeper level, food is so much more.
It binds countries, cultures, towns, and families. Food brings us together as humans, and whether your family was raised on burghol and hummus, meals shared are memories made.
It all started with a fresh graduate, a jar of jam, and a Lebanese mother’s cooking. In the early 1920s, our founder Emile Cortas had just graduated from the American University of Beirut. Emile’s mother was an excellent cook and an expert in preparing Mouneh to preserve seasonal crops and fruits for colder months. But what she was most famous for, were her home-made jams.
On a breezy summer weekend, as Emile prepared to head back to Beirut where he worked at the university’s alumni office, his mother sent a couple of jars of her freshly cooked apricot jam to offer his business school mentor and friend, professor Nicoley. After tasting it, the professor advised Emile to turn this family recipe into a viable commerce.
That same summer, mother and son began offering jars of their deliciously authentic jam to people in need, friends and potential clients. As the business grew, Emile started building his first factory.
Cortas story is a story rooted in the nostalgic taste of home and the flavors of the Lebanese soul. The great Cortas venture blossomed from the pine-forested hills of Brummana, in 1925. From the delightful apricot jam that started as a local sensation, to apprenticeship in Ireland that paved the way for a flourishing company offering a variety of products. The journey wasn’t without its challenges. Cortas has prospered, expanded and flourished despite difficult events such as World War 2 and the Lebanese civil war. True to its Lebanese identity, Cortas rose like the Phoenix from the ashes, and continued to shine.
An almost century-long tale of heritage and perseverance, Cortas is now a vital necessity for the Lebanese diaspora and other diverse communities. With reimagined and reintroduced recipes, Cortas is the crown jewel of any meal of the day.
With the entire world going through a host of problems, conflicts, and negativity, one thing remains true: A good meal and good food help bring people together for joy and love, and that’s the core purpose of Cortas: “We exist to unite the people of the world around a good meal”.
Cortas believes that food has the power to bring people closer together and connect with one another. That’s the true Lebanese way, and the Lebanese way is at the very core of us! After all, the goodness of mankind and their collective efforts make everything better and more positive: from the tiniest peach, to the biggest cedar!
The company continues to stay true to the values and qualities that shaped its story since the very beginning.
Knowing the above information on Cortas, the largest Lebanese food factory, it is time to know much more on Pierre Battikha, Chief Executive Officer at Cortas Canning & Refrigerating Co. who is a professional business leader with more than 25 years of experience with major multinational FMCG companies. Pierre has impeccable taste in modern authentic Lebanese/International cuisine. Battikha came to Cortas which was founded in 1930 to take it to another level in growth and profitability. His career started in the confectionary industry with Cadbury Adams, expanded to food and soft drinks with Kraft foods / Mondelez then moved to the tobacco industry with Philip Morris International. Currently, he heads Cortas Canning & Refrigerating Co. that operates in the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australia.
He has gained extensive experience in Business Management / Turnaround allowing him to deliver profitable growth through setting a clear vision and ensuring solid organizational development / design equipped to deliver this vision. Pierre believes that people are the greatest asset of an organization and he actively supports the team to ensure collective achievement of the organizational objectives.
His major skills are:
• Strategic Management
• Distributor Management. Route To Market design and execution
• Organizational Development-Design and Organizational Leadership
• Consumer and Customer Marketing
• Manufacturing Excellence
• P&L Management
Pierre Battikha holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration Marketing – University de Quebec a Montreal.
During the 90-minute conversation, Pierre Battikha discusses his plans, his approach to the 2021 challenges and his accomplishments, as well as his thoughts on Lebanon, the region and domestic issues like the financial sector, health, education, real estate and Lebanon’s economy.
BL: I would like to Learn more about the updates and developments of Cortas. Is it possible to update me?
Pierre Battikha: I am always thrilled when I am asked this question as I can spend a whole day telling the amazing stories and successes that Cortas has gone through in the last century.
As you know, it all started back in the 1920’s when the founder Emile Cortas and his mother Wadad Makdisi Cortas had the passion for food and cooking, and the passion of giving. Their first creation was the apricot jam that they used to do in their own kitchen and offer to the people in need; “From there it started”. Their apricot jam gained a lot of traction and success which encouraged Emile in 1926 to travel to Ireland and learn industrial Jam making.
A few years later, his younger brother Michel joined, as they expanded their product line to include tomato paste, vegetables and fruit-based syrups under the name Cortas Bros.
Business grew, and so did their distribution, covering Lebanon and the Levant region. From there, they started expanding the line from jams to Hummus, Baba Ghannouj, Fava beans, Distilled natural flavored waters, molasses to tahini and halawa.
It is said that Cortas was the first company in the world that started exporting hummus in the 1960s, long before it became an international dish.
At that point in time, the vision was “Wherever there is a Lebanese, there is Cortas”. Now, our vision evolved. Currently, it is about “Preserving, nurturing and perpetuating Lebanese culture through food”. This is why Cortas exists. We want to use our food to spread the Lebanese culture to all food consumers of the world who want to experience the true and authentic taste of the Lebanese cuisine.
In 2017, the Cortas family sold the company to believers in this Vision which allowed us to relocate to a new World Standard factory in 2020. Since more than 95% of our business is sold outside Lebanon, we need to continue evolving our manufacturing standards to ensure we offer consumers only the Best in Class.
Our products are made from fresh ingredients that we source directly from the best farmers in Lebanon. We do not use any preservatives or additives in our food and we maintain the highest taste and quality standards.
We’re really proud of the quality and taste of our products and we truly believe that we have a superior brand. We want to spread it across the world. Today, we are introducing a new range that suit the modern lifestyle of the younger generation, in addition to preserving the heritage passed on by the older ones. The company continues to stay true to the values and qualities that shaped its story since the very beginning.
BL: How was your business journey?
Pierre Battikha: After my graduation in 1991, I joined a multinational pharma company “Warner Lambert” who had a confectionary division and owned a factory in Lebanon which produces Chiclets, Trident and Halls in Lebanon. I started in sales and marketing and then took leadership of the commercial division for the Levant region.
In 2002, I relocated to Dubai and took over the responsibility of the GCC markets. Cadbury chocolate has acquired the Warner Lambert confectionary division at that time, so I was leading the entire portfolio.
After spending 3 years in Dubai, I relocated to Cairo, Egypt in 2005 and took over the Commercial responsibility of the business for the North African markets. I managed this business for three years’ and in 2008 I relocated to Casablanca, Morocco and took leadership of Maghreb and the French speaking west Africa business for Kraft Foods / Mondelez, who at that point of time has acquired Cadbury chocolate.
In 2013, I decided to change the industry and joined Philip Morris, the biggest tobacco company in the world. I relocated to Lausanne, Switzerland and I was heading the Levant business and I was also part of a core team working on special projects.
In December 2017, I got the opportunity to come back home and lead Cortas company.
BL: Tell me Pierre, what are the achievements or the value-added that you introduced from 2018 to 2021?
Pierre Battikha: A very good question. My main achievement is a mindset change. We have put the global consumer in the heart of any decision we take. The first year, we spent a lot of time understanding consumer needs, wants and beliefs. Since our consumers are quite diverse, Middle Easterners and Westerns, we gathered amazing insights that helped us frame our new vision and portfolio strategy.
We learned that our cuisine touches on global trends that western consumers want. It’s plants-based, it’s gluten-free, it’s vegan. It’s basically everything the consumers want in any cuisine.
Lebanese food is known for its high nutritious value and Levantine style of cooking. It makes use of whole grains, fresh vegetables, fruits that is known for good health.
In fact, this is our mission. We want to spread our culture using our healthy and delicious food.
BL: Pierre, what are the plans in the pipeline for the coming 2022? And how do you differentiate it from 2021?
Pierre Battikha: After an unusual year in 2020, we started quite strong in 2021 as we had our fundamentals very well set. We’ve launched our first innovation that was inspired by the global consumer insights that we have been working on since I joined. We understood that Western consumers love our cuisine as it touches strongly on their needs and wants: delicious, healthy, plant-based, all natural, vegan, gluten free and preservatives free. Convenience was also a key need that was clearly stated.
Our newly launched range of “Ready to Eat” delivers strongly on all these needs and wants. We started with four dishes: green peas in olive oil, lentil with rice, eggplant with chickpeas and Bulgur wheat with tomato and Onions. It tastes like home-cooking with a perfect quality and affordable price as well.
We have innovative and differentiated new launches coming in soon in 2021 and 2022 so stay tuned.
BL: It has been increasingly challenging for Lebanese F&B exports to access foreign markets as most countries are applying progressively more stringent standards and specifications, what are your comments?
Pierre Battikha: For the last century, Cortas has been actively exporting to global markets, to name few: US, Canada, Australia, France, UK, Germany, Sweden and the Middle East / Africa. Our manufacturing standards and product specifications meet global demands. We have moved our manufacturing facility in 2020 to a world class factory to enable us maintain and continue abiding by the changes in specifications. We are well set on this front.
Our new facility is FSSC certified and we will continue working and upgrading our standards to maintain withing the global norms of food manufacturing.
BL: Won’t you think of introducing new recipes from the Moroccan cuisine, and from the Egyptian cuisine?
Pierre Battikha: It all goes back to our Vision. We exist to Preserve, nurture and perpetuate Lebanese culture through food and this is what we do every day. The Lebanese cuisine is in the heart of everything we do and we will try to stay true to our reason of existence.
We are a Lebanese company, we want to spread our famous Lebanese culture to the world, and we want to spread it through our food. As Middle Eastern cuisine is similar in many ways, we do have plans to expand our range to fusion Lebanese touching on the most famous dishes in our region.
BL: What are your comments on the current situation of the Lebanese industrialists? What are the challenges?
Pierre Battikha: As we mostly compete globally, we spend most of our time and effort in the international markets. We look at other Lebanese brands more as allies than as competition, since we need to join efforts if we want to win globally.
The global market categorizes brands by country of origin. In mainstream channel, category management is mainly executed by country-of-Origin, examples: Italian cuisine, Asian cuisine, etc… So unless we unite as Lebanese manufacturers it would be very difficult to win in the global market.
On a regional level, we see that the governments of the neighboring countries are aggressively supporting manufactures to export their goods either through export rebates, tax reliefs, funding food shows exhibitions, etc… which is unfortunately not available for us here. We have learned to be self-reliant and self-sufficient but self-reliance comes at a cost and if you’re competing globally, every penny counts.
Hence, there are so many programs that the government can do whether from a taxation point of view, whether from a rebate point of view, whether from electricity relief point of view. I truly believe the manufacturing industry is the beacon of hope for Lebanon. It creates jobs; it gets us fresh money, which we badly need today to put this country back on its feet.
My recommendation is that we need to unite as manufacturers and as a government to be able to compete with the outside world. We need to have a strategy for Lebanon.
BL: Is it easy to find Lebanese laborers?
Pierre Battikha: Our staff (staff and blue color) are 100% Lebanese. The challenge we are facing is more about attracting new talent and retaining our employees in light of the difficult economic and social situation the country is passing through.
BL: What are your plans for 2022? Are you going to increase the number of your staff?
Pierre Battikha: Our dream for 2022 is very big. We have our vision set, our new factory operating well, our global consumer understanding clear and our portfolio strategy well defined and articulated, we are ready to GO BIG.
We are currently in discussion with major mainstream supermarkets in the US, Canada and France to introduce Cortas in their chains across the countries.
BL: What about Canada since you are a graduate from Canada?
Pierre Battikha: We are number 1 in Canada as well. Cortas is present in US, Canada, Australia, France, UK, Germany and Sweden…... We work actively in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman too. Our footprint is very big.
BL: what are the innovations that you introduced to Cortas or want to introduce? Are you willing to reveal?
Pierre Battikha: Beside the “Ready to Eat” range that we have recently launched and its taking major traction around North America and Europe, we are launching this year unique innovations in Hummus, Distilled flavored waters, molasses and few other products that will keep it as a surprise.
BL: What about the jams? We know that Cortas started with apricot jam.
Pierre Battikha: This company was founded on apricot jam and truly our jam is one of a kind. We produce our jams using only fresh fruits in season and our secret recipe makes it second to none. Although jam is what this company is recognized for, yet our bestselling products are our distilled waters and molasses. We are global leaders in rose water, Orange blossom water and pomegranate molasses.
BL: Why your heavy focus is on the export. What about the local Lebanese market?
Pierre Battikha: Lebanon is our showroom to the world. We know that Lebanon is a small market but it is a strategic market for us. We want to use Lebanon to showcase Cortas to the world. Following our mission and vision, we want to spread the Lebanese culture to the rest of the world and Lebanese market will play a big role in doing so.
BL: Who are your biggest competitors?
Pierre Battikha: In different markets, different brands. We do not have one global competitor. Depending on the market dynamics and the active brands playing in this market, our competitors change accordingly. Our core markets however are US, Canada, Australia and France. This is where we focus our efforts the most.
BL: You told me about the competition abroad what about the competition in Lebanon?
Pierre Battikha: Because of our vision, we don’t position other Lebanese manufacturers as competitors. We actually see them as allies. We know that our strength is when we are united. Our competitors are somewhere else. They are not within Lebanon. We don’t see Lebanese manufacturers as competitors. We try to support them to be able to win externally.
BL: How far did COVID-19 affect the food industry?
Pierre Battikha: Covid affected the whole world and every one of us. No surprise, that Covid had also a big impact on the manufacturing food industry. When it first started, it was really a difficult time. We did not know what it was and how to control it or manage it. We were operating 7 hours a day instead of 24 hrs and we were very concerned about the safety and wellbeing of our people. With time, we learned how to live with it while implementing all the safety measures we needed to protect our people. As of the beginning of this year, we are back working 24/7.
BL: What about Cortas Tahina? What’s so special about it?
Pierre Battikha: Tahina is mainly made from sesame which is not grown in Lebanon. We handpick the sesame that gives us the best texture, taste and color. In Tahina, we produce the old fashion way using stones. Our tahina is made from freshly roasted stone ground sesame that gives you this unique texture, taste and color.
BL: Do you manufacture all the products in Lebanon?
Pierre Battikha: Most of our products are done in our factories using fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers and roses freshly picked from the beautiful lands of Lebanon. We produce jams, hummus, baba ghanouj, fava, distilled flavored waters, molasses, tahina, halawa, etc… Our recent “Ready to Eat” range however, is produced in Spain as it requires special manufacturing technology.
BL: Cortas has witnessed tangible growth over the last few years, I heard that it is a great growth despite all the difficulties that you had and one of them is COVID-19. This growth is attributed to the immense efforts of Pierre Battikha. How did that happen?
Pierre Battikha: Let me interrupt you there. It’s not Pierre’s efforts but more the team’s, including our distributors around the world, our suppliers and our customers who believed in our vision and are actively working with us to deliver our common dream. Our year 2021 is performing quite well. We are operating our factory 24/7. We are witnessing good sustainable growth momentum. We expect stronger sustainable growth in the years to come.
BL: Do you plan to go into the ice cream business?
Pierre Battikha: We are focused on the Lebanese cuisine and any product that fits within this range is a possibility.
