Dry and Raw is a unique boutique food concept conceived from the heart of nature to provide Lebanese and international customers with premium natural and organic food products from Lebanon. Dry and Raw offers new food trends to the Lebanese clientele and provides them with better quality/ affordable prices substitute to many costly imported food goodies.
DID YOU KNOW?
Dry and Raw is a unique delicatessen concept that provides premium organic food products that cater for all tastes and diets with more than 600 created food items.
Founded in February 2020, Dry and Raw produces 95% of what we offer and sell and were the first in Lebanon to locally produce:
- 36 Types of foreign-style cheeses
- 20 Seeds and nuts oils
- A wide range of international condiments
- Lebanese mouneh with a twist
- Alcohol Production (Gin, Arak, Grappa, and Bitters)
Our business works in sync with nature through our farms and a network of more than 20 milk, fruits, and vegetable farmers across Lebanon.
We currently serve:
- 7000 repetitive customers
- 17 strategic partnering food boutiques
- 10 B2B restaurants and three online platforms
- Classified as the most visited booth in HORECA 2022 by the organizers, BeryTech, and visitors, locals, and internationals
Offering paid apprenticeship to university food science and nutrition students
WHAT’S THE INNOVATION OF DRY & RAW?
Lebanese dairy producers have always focused their activities on producing the traditional Local Lebanese cheese, but few, if none, have thought of producing European cheese due to lack of expertise, complexity and time-consuming process, high sunk investment, and high spoilage risk.
In August 2020, Dry & Raw was the first to take on this challenge. It successfully started producing and selling its own locally produced European-style cheeses made 100% in Lebanon using high-quality and free-range milk produced by selected small Lebanese farmers. And since then, our success pace grew very fast to the extent that we reached a point where we are unable to cater to the quantities required by the market. This success results from our “full sensory experience” philosophy that is unique to our products. Our uniquely trained staff and attention to this holistic experience philosophy make our products unrivaled in the market.
Also, Dry and Dry managed Dry and Raw is considered the first boutique in Lebanon that produces 95% of what it offers and sells. It has offered new food trends to the Lebanese clientele and provided them with better quality/ affordable prices to substitute for many costly imported food goodies. Through our exports, we managed to reintroduce the flavors of Lebanon in a very modern and high-end manner, leaving unforgettable memories of this country among those who consumed the product.
WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND THE INNOVATION?
As per Investinlebanon.gov.lb there are more than 100 dairy factories across Lebanon with farms and advanced technologies that produce only traditional cheese. Comparatively, for example, and as per the ITC Lebanon import of cheese in 2020 (primarily European) reached more than 126 million USD. The customers of Dry and Raw are middle-class individuals and families who enjoy food, lead a healthy and diverse lifestyle, and are conscious of the quality, taste, ingredients, and environment.
Our target customers are people searching for alternatives that are comparable to imported products already in the market and/or have become absent from the market or are lower quality and expensive due to the crisis. Our customer wants quality and taste while enjoying the satisfaction of supporting local, sustainable agriculture and farming. There is a Growing frustration among consumers due to the continued absence of imported food materials from the market, which forces them to change their eating habits and lifestyles.
WHY IS DRY & RAW IMPORTANT?
Through its innovation, Dry and Raw are trying to achieve the following:
- To provide the Lebanese market with locally produced premium quality European cheese that is similar if not a better substitute to imported ones. That is affordable yet caters to the import supply gap and loss of consumers’ purchasing power created by the economic crisis.
- Dry & Raw cheese is not only a dairy product; it’s a healthy food made from premium quality, organic, and free-range milk that provides our customers with good nutrients, probiotics, and high nutritive values.
- Making imported-style cheese accessible to Lebanese people at a competitive price.
WHO IS BENEFITTING?
Through our innovation, we are also helping create micro-economies from which we get the milk. We rely heavily on free-range milk from small milk producers from across Lebanon. Through our innovation, we will continue supporting our current network of farmers/milk producers and expand the volume of our cooperation with them, which will minimize their frustration, encourage them to continue with their businesses, and keep them financially secure, increasing their financial incomes.
Expanding our innovation will include other farmers in our supply chain by buying their produce at a fair market price, providing them with technical support and mentoring, and linking them to potential funding opportunities. Our innovation, in general, provides the Lebanese dairy producers sector with a proof of concept and project viability to encourage them and open their appetite by investing in foreign cheese production to increase its economic scale at the national level.
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