Mehmet Reis, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Reis Gıda

We conducted a pleasant interview with Reis Gıda Board Chairman Mehmet Reis, discussing the company's areas of operation, the technologies it uses, and the investments it has made to maintain brand sustainability. [caption id="attachment_90788" align="aligncenter"] Reis Gıda- Mehmet Reis[/caption]

Could you tell us about yourself and your professional background?

I was born in 1957 in İnebolu, the only district awarded the Independence Medal by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said "My eyes are on Sakarya, my ears on İnebolu." After my education at Samsun Teacher Training Institute, I continued at Istanbul University Faculty of Law. In the year I started higher education, I lost my father. I began working in the accounting and sales departments of a food business in Unkapanı. Due to various reasons, I abandoned my higher education and in 1981 ventured into business by establishing Reis Ticareti with only capital based on trust. In 1994, to combat inflation, I made a radical decision alone and boldly implemented Turkey's first fixed-price application. For over 40 years, I have raised awareness about the future and problems of the agricultural sector and proposed solutions at every opportunity. My life story and success account have been featured on many television channels including TRT Peak Performers, TRT2 Immigrant Generations program, and most recently NTV in 2016, as well as in newspapers, books and magazines. Particularly, being featured in the Hürriyet newspaper's "The Child to Become a Man and Bosses' First Jobs" column on the same pages as Turkey's greatest industrialists and business leaders such as Hacı Sabancı, Vehbi Koç and Hüsnü Özyeğin was deeply meaningful to me and beyond my wildest dreams. [caption id="attachment_90789" align="alignleft"] Reis Gıda- Pulses[/caption]

Could you share Reis Gıda's success story with our readers? How do you define your brand's adopted quality policy?

From a brand's birth through becoming a global brand, it must adopt sustainability as a principle in all its operations. For this reason, in response to those asking "Can a brand be created from rice, pulses and garlic?", I took steps to give Reis Gıda a global brand identity by saying that you will either brand yourself or differentiate yourself. Turkey imports rice and beans from America; lentils and chickpeas from Canada. Alongside these two countries, which are the most powerful and influential in world agriculture, Reis operates in 16 countries today—France, Germany, the Netherlands and England—with 1,500 points of sale in the US and 5,000 internationally, exporting domestic rice and pulse products grown in Anatolia's fertile lands, cultivated by our farmers' sweat and labor, under the Turkish brand. This is a separate source of pride. Furthermore, we bring Reis products to consumers on leading e-commerce online shopping sites worldwide such as Walmart and Amazon.

Could you provide information about your export activities?

As Reis Gıda, we will contribute to our country's preparation for a major export transformation through our export activities and domestic production support initiatives. In 2018, we achieved a 25.32% increase in tonnage compared to the previous year. We aim to exceed this growth in 2019. Our primary plan is to create new markets by supporting agricultural product exports. We will focus on growth in international markets with Turkey's agricultural strength and experience.

Could you tell us about the technologies you use in production?

Reis, which has produced for 38 years prioritizing quality, standards and hygiene, offering different flavors to Turkish and world kitchens, continues to expand its engineering staff and modernize its machinery fleet with cutting-edge technology, and this year continues compliance work with the latest version quality system certificates. Just as there are differences in cooking and flavor among products grown in various regions of Turkey and imported products, the same differences are observed between old and new products. Taking these factors into account, Reis controls all stages up to packaging. With great care to every detail, it prefers new harvest products and carries out moisture ratio measurements, cooking times and flavor tests.

Could you provide information about your product varieties, R&D and Innovation work?

Reis today packages approximately 129,000 tons annually of rice, pulse and bulgur varieties over a total area of 13,500 square meters. Alongside our 46 varieties of traditional products, we closely follow global nutrition trends and update ourselves in light of these expectations. In 2018, through our R&D and innovation activities and product development work, we developed the Reis Royal Series consisting of 23 varieties such as quinoa, amaranth, beluga lentil and chia, and introduced it to consumers in 2019. When designing the packaging for this new product group, which is also preferred worldwide, we chose lockable packaging to prevent food waste and garbage. With our state-of-the-art machinery, we created a gluten line and presented our gluten-free products in new design packages.

What investments have you made in your brand to preserve its sustainability?

In 1995, European Union countries began applying HACCP management for astronaut food. Following certain preparations, in 2000 Reis became the first brand in its sector to implement the European Union's food hygiene management system—HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. According to the results of the Nielsen Turkey research that began in 2000—"Dry Food and General Sector Analyses" report—up to the present day, Reis Gıda consistently ranks first as the leading brand in rice and pulse brand awareness. In the rice and pulse category, the brand has achieved data as "Most Trusted," "Most Preferred and Recommended Brand." This emerges as a result of the value Reis provides to its consumers. To carry this strength forward, to maintain sustainability as an exemplary company and leading brand today as in the future, it is necessary to invest in the brand and maintain quality standards at the highest level.

Your work in fighting obesity has generated considerable attention. Could you inform our readers about your efforts on this subject and your other corporate social responsibility work?

Like the rest of the world, obesity in our country has reached figures that threaten public health. As Reis Gıda, in our fight against obesity, we work to make children love pulses by standing against junk food. In 2009, we launched our "Obesity Can Be Prevented" project by saying "Traditional Flavors, Healthy Generations," and created obesity awareness with slogans "That Would Be Junk Food" and "Our Bellies Are Full of Junk Food." In subsequent years, with our "Home Cooking on the Table, Accounts Clear" campaign, we emphasized how economical home cooking is. By saying "When All Your Loved Ones Meet at the Table, Then Life Is Complete," we urged the importance of those traditional family meals. [caption id="attachment_90791" align="alignleft"] Pulses Images[/caption] Continuing our project, we organize family and child-inclusive events. Through numerous conferences and seminars, we convey this message to our youth. Because healthy eating habits are acquired in childhood. Healthy living lays the foundation for a quality future. As long as the obesity problem continues, we will continue our social responsibility project, which we have pioneered as the Reis family. We will continue to place the importance of healthy, adequate and balanced nutrition on the agenda at every platform yesterday, today and in the future. Because healthy food is a good future. In line with our obesity prevention efforts, we were deemed worthy of a "Certificate of Appreciation" from the Turkish Republic Ministry of Health for the importance we place on human health. Besides our social responsibilities regarding obesity, we also carry out many other social responsibility projects. We continue to provide material and moral support to numerous projects such as street children—a societal wound—people with physical and mental disabilities struggling to maintain social participation, women's shelters, child welfare institutions, Darülaceze, and the Foundation for Health and Education for Children with Leprosy. We do not remain indifferent to natural disasters occurring worldwide and provide food and clothing aid. We continue our support not only within the country's borders but also internationally. As Reis Gıda for fulfilling our social responsibility, we received the Gold Medal award from the Turkish Red Crescent on its 144th anniversary for the support we provided to domestic and international humanitarian relief operations. Besides community projects, with our pioneering efforts in environment-focused work, we received the Green Economy award.