How did the business start ?

Initially, Mr Pierre Dufour created a company called Bretagne Marée in 1977 and its main activity at the time was distributing oysters. Then the line developed and diversified, notably with Irish suppliers. In 1989, Mr Pierre Dufour set up the company called Sinbad at Rungis Market to sell to retail fishmongers and semi-wholesalers any goods that had not been sold to agents. A few years later the two companies were merged under the Sinbad name.

What products do you sell ?

Our company is specialized in Irish seafood products, which represent about 40% of our volumes, including lobsters, scallops, crabs, sea snails and we sell top quality products like monkfish, John Dory, skate, etc.  We also sell farmed fish like sea bream and bass, which helped increase our volumes. We also sell salmon from Norway and Scotland (Label Rouge) and a little from Ireland. The quality of Irish products is steady and we are satisfied with them. However, when supplies are short, we buy from the various ports of France and Europe. We also sell frozen products, salted products, not to mention freshwater fish (from France, Spain, Greece, etc.).

Do you have a development strategy ?

In the first place, we try to stick to a quality policy, a sine qua non condition to keep or increase our clientele. It must be said that the number retail fishmongers (55% of our clientele) is tending to fall as some retire, while others close down the business and without being replaced. Although our turnover has increased by 65% in less than two years, we have reached out growth limit in terms of range and storage for lack of space. Nevertheless, we will boost our sales force at the market in order to be in phase with our commercial policy because we do very few deliveries. Besides retail fishmongers, our clientele includes wholesalers (40%), supermarkets (5%) and restaurants very sporadically.

What is your opinion of the fish market ?

The noticeable drop in fish resources today, combined with a drastic fishing quota policy is causing heavy competition from the various market players, particularly Spain and Italy. The market will become increasingly tough and difficult for products from fishing, so it seems likely that aquaculture will become more important and help preserve fish supplies in future.

What do you think of Rungis Market ?

Rungis Market is a global hub for seafood products because of its very wide choice and it is a unique showcase for all the fresh produce sold there. However, our pavilion lacks a centralized check-out, like for meat products, to protect us from unpaid bills and avoid us wasting too much time on debt collection instead of sales. This is a crucial problem for companies.