The founder of e-food invests in delivery for pets

By George Lampiris

Paminos Kyrkinis, founder and CEO of efood, is investing in the establishment of a new company for the sale of pet food. The name of the new company is Pet Chef and is another investment step of the inspirer of the largest food distribution platform in Greece at the moment, based on its financial size, which was acquired by the German group Delivery Hero in 2015. Investing in the group also participates Harry Takas, senior marketing director of efood.

The newly established company also includes the former head of marketing of efood, Antonis Samothrakis, founder of Instacar, which is the first car subscription service in Greece that officially started in September 2019. This is the platform that gives freedom to its customers to drive whichever car they choose for as long as they want, with the possibility to be released from its lease at any time.

It should be noted that the project is an initiative of Lamprini Nikolopoulou, who maintains experience from various companies with which she has occasionally collaborated in the field of marketing. As far as Kyrkini, Samothrace and Taka are concerned, they participate in the business scheme as “angel investors”.

As far as Pet Chef is concerned, according to the report of Capital.gr, it will be active in the distribution of prepared food for pets, offering an alternative to the standard – packaged food that is currently offered on the market. In essence, this energy comes to give a healthier alternative to pet owners in terms of pet food.

Only 2.5 million euros in sales of pet items in electronic supermarkets but with strong growth in 2021

The new investment position from Kyrkini – Samothrace – Taka at the initiative of Lamprini Nikolopoulou comes to a market, where based on current data pet products recorded through electronic supermarkets the largest increase in sales of any other category of goods by 101% within 2021, according to data from the eRetail Audit of the measurement company Convert Group. The value of online shopping for pet products online through online supermarkets, however, is quite limited in value at the moment, as according to the same data it amounts to only 1% of the total sales of 255 million euros recorded by electronic supermarkets markets in Greece. This practically means that the electronic sales of pet items through the electronic supermarkets amount to only 2.5 million euros. It should be noted that in these electronic sales participate traditional supermarket chains that maintain online stores such as Sklavenitis, AB Vassilopoulos, My market, Masoutis, Bazaar, Kritikos, Market In, Thanopoulos and the purely electronic supermarket e-fresh.gr but also smaller players such as the Family supermarkets of Thessaloniki, the Chalkiadakis chain of Crete, Kiosky’s and the Collaborating Groceries also based in Northern Greece.

Pet City’s growth leap and acquisition guide to buying pet products

In any case, the pet products sector is a market with a wide range of growth in the coming years. Besides, the recent investment of BC Partners with the acquisition of the largest player in the sale of pet goods in Greece, Pet City with a turnover of 45.7 million euros in 2020 and pre-tax profits of 7.1 million euros, can be characterized as an indicator for the development perspective of the specific sector. It is noted that ten years earlier, in 2011 Pet City’s turnover was 23.15 million euros with profits of 605.3 thousand euros.