Rank Group is an agro-food company established in 2006 and located in Lehfed, a rural area of Jbeil. In 2008, the owners built a modern water bottling factory, “NAY” Natural Drinking Water, using modern and advanced equipment.
After observing that the region has more than 70 cattle farmers, one of the owners conducted a market study among buyers and retailers within the Nay Water distribution channels and key accounts and concluded that Lebanon imports many kinds of cheese for which no domestic substitute was available. As a result, he decided to establish a specialized dairy factory after securing purchase commitments from the local buyers/retailers.
Under the brand name “Farm Hill”, Rank Group will produce three types of cheese as import substitution.
However, Rank Group’s main constraint is that the company lacks the expertise to produce these three types of cheese. They also do not have the in-house expertise to establish a food safety management system based on ISO 22000 for their new cheese factory.
LED will assist Rank Group to cost-share for consultants to help them establish a food safety management system (FSMS) aligned with ISO 22000.
With LED assistance, the company expects to increase sales and generate 16 new jobs by 2020.