Highlights

JANUARY

Won the Insight Award

BAMA’s Data Science team won the Norwegian Computer Society’s Insight Award with its self-developed “Smart Transport” app. The app is a tool for transport planning and helps reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions, and ensure the delivery of fresher fruit and vegetables to retail stores.

Strawberry’s Supplier of the Year

BAMA’s food services and HoReCa-focused subsidiary, BAMA Storkjøkken, went all the way and brought home this prestigious award. It also received a number of other honours during the year – including the Reitan Convenience group’s sustainability award for Berga Juice. At least 80 per cent of the fruit and vegetables that are used to make this product are discards that would otherwise not be consumed.

Silver medal at the Bocuse d’Or

Team Filip August Bendi won a well-deserved silver medal at the Bocuse d’Or world championship competition in Lyon, France. The Bocuse d’Or is the world’s most prestigious culinary competition. In addition to Bendi, the team comprised commis chef Leon Haarberg Nilsen (named best commis chef) and coach Christopher W. Davidsen, with Sven Erik Renaa as president. Award-winning chef Harald Osa, who also heads BAMA’s R&D endeavours, was the erudite and entertaining commentator for the event on Nordic Live. BAMA is proud sponsor of the culinary foundation, Stiftelsen Norsk Gastronomi.

FEBRUARY

Winner of the "HoldbarSjekken"

The award was won by the innovation project “HoldbarSjekken” [Longevity Check] – a system for testing which packaging solution provides the optimal shelf-life for fruit, berries and vegetables, while reducing waste and cutting down on the use of plastic. The award was presented by the packaging industry association Grønt Punkt in collaboration with Matvett at the Holdbar trade fair, an industry meeting place for the production, packaging and logistics sector.

“Supplier of the Year”

Özler Tarim, our fantastic supplier of citrus fruits and morello cherries from Turkey received this award during the  Fruit Logistica trade fair in Berlin, Germany.

 “Green Chef of the Year”

Nils Flatmark from Trondheim’s Britannia Hotel in and Espen Leumann from Le Bistro won this award at the Umami Arena in Lillestrøm. BAMA Storkjøkken is a proud sponsor of this event and was represented on the jury by Kjetil Gundersen, a qualified chef and certified A-level WACS judge, who works as a Key Account Manager at BAMA Storkjøkken.

MARCH

Cocaine seizures

In March and July, substantial amounts of cocaine were discovered at one of our facilities in Oslo. The drugs had been smuggled into the country concealed in shipments of imported fruit. The police were immediately alerted and the drugs seized. This is an extremely serious matter and our focus has been to safeguard our employees and implement further security measures throughout the supply chain. We are now working to improve security at the Port of Oslo – with the introduction of fast scanners and additional customs officers.

Kick-off for the “Year of the Banana”

With a total of three promotional campaigns during the year, bananas were front and centre in 2023. The first campaign was launched in February and focused on the banana as a nutritious and affordable snack that is easy to eat on the go.

June

Drømmedøgn (24 hours of football and fun)

We celebrated 30 years of collaboration with the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) with an event for young footballplayers. 

Over 1,000 applications and only 100 places. A day of football, meetings with Norwegian national team players and a night spent sleeping on the pitch at Ullevaal Stadium. What a celebration it was for 50 lucky winners, and the friend they each got to bring along.

New factory in Finland

BAMA Fresh Cuts Oy opened a new production facility that will ensure even fresher produce for the Finnish market. The new factory is yet another milestone in BAMA’s programme of investments in the past few years.

September

BAMA x HAALAND

We signed Erling Haaland, one of the world’s biggest football stars, as a BAMA Ambassador. In the years to come, Haaland will play an important role in inspiring Norwegians to eat more fruit and vegetables. 

October

First Haaland campaign

The Bendit banana campaign was the first in the BAMA X HAALAND partnership. The film was shot in black and white, with the yellow fruit as an eye-catching device.

November

Eight new years of partnership with Gartnerhallen

BAMA and Gartnerhallen have worked together for a quarter of a century, and there will be more to come. In November, a new long-term partnership agreement was signed. Together, we will continue our fruitful partnership to extend the Norwegian growing season and bring more fantastic Norwegian products to market.

Larvik Løk and Vika Grønt won “Supplier of the Year” award

These two companies work closely on the production, delivery and peeling of onions. In 2023, they both received a well-deserved award at the Gartnerhallen Congress event.

December

Record sales of Norwegian apples

The Norwegian share of the apple market reached a whopping 19 per cent in 2023. In collaboration with Gartnerhallen’s highly skilled growers and our customers, we achieved a Norwegian record, with the sale of 6,200 tonnes of homegrown apples.