Sabra Salads Co. was set up in 1985. The company manufactures ready-made salads and spreads, including humous, tahini, eggplant salad, etc. In 1997, Osem acquired 51% of Sabra Salads’ shares, and completed the acquisition in October 2000 through Tivall Ltd., an Osem subsidiary. Following Osem’s acquisition of Sabra Salads, it gave the go-ahead to make comprehensive changes that touched on nearly every area of activity in the plant.

In recent years, chilled foods have become the fastest growing area in the food industry throughout the world as the result of three main trends–greater attention is given to good nutrition leading consumers to switch to what they perceive to be healthier foods; a marked increase in the popularity of ethnic foods, particularly Asian-Indian and Middle Eastern foods; the meat crisis in Western Europe resulting from an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease and Mad Cow disease encouraged consumers to seek out alternative sources of protein to replace meat. It is therefore no surprise that humous, which encompasses the three trends mentioned above, has become more and more popular. It is healthy, protein-rich, and is definitely an excellent alternative to meat.

Naturally, Israel has also been influenced by these world trends. The Israeli chilled salads and spreads industry has flourished in recent years, growing far beyond the natural growth rate of the food industry in Israel. Anticipating this trend, Sabra Salads invested extensively in modernizing its machinery that replaced manual production processes, became fully automated and increased its production capability. In addition, they expanded the QA department (it also utilizes the Osem laboratory resources) and upgraded the cooling chain process starting from the production floor, through to storage and transportation, to the final stage when the products reach the refrigeration units at the points of sale.

The company also developed unique new products such as the humous product line with special garnishes and toppings, and the Humous King series. Products such as these contribute to making Sabra Salads a key factor in increased consumer demand for humous in Israel over recent years.

Extensive marketing activities have built up the brand while also reinforcing consumer perception that this brand makes tasty, authentic and popular products. During the year 2003, Sabra Salads became a leader in the chilled and pre-packed salads and spreads industry in Israel thanks to their inventiveness, product quality and packaging design.

The success of Sabra Salads spread beyond Israel’s borders. They managed to “teach” Europeans to put aside the knife and fork, replacing them with pitta bread for dipping into the humous instead. Initially, the biggest sales were made mainly to the Jewish market in England but these days, Sabra Salads marketed under the brand name Sabra can be found in leading retail chains including Delhaize in Belgium, Albert Heijn in Holland, Ocean, Carrefour and Monoprie in France, and in the leading grocery chains in England including Tesco, Sainsbury, and Safeway. At Sabra Salads they view the headway they have made in exports as part of a long-term strategic move to cultivate the enormous overseas market potential for Sabra Salads products.