Talabat Mart Teams with Elite Agro to Strengthen UAE’s Farm-to-Door Supply Chain

Fresh food is having a bit of a moment in the UAE. And this time, it is not just about what lands on your plate, but how it gets there.

Talabat mart, the grocery and retail arm of talabat, has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding with Elite Agro Holding, one of the UAE’s well-known agri-food groups. In simple terms, they want to make it easier – and faster – for locally grown produce to travel straight from farm to front door.

The idea is to create a more direct farm-to-consumer channel. That means talabat mart will source fresh fruits, vegetables and eggs directly from Elite Agro’s farms in the UAE, cutting down on middle steps in the supply chain. Shorter chain, fewer headaches. And in a world where global supply lines can be, frankly, a bit of a faff, that kind of resilience matters.

Alix de Zelicourt, General Manager at talabat mart, said the partnership strengthens the company’s role within the UAE’s food supply ecosystem. Direct sourcing from local farms, he noted, allows the platform to deliver fresher products while supporting the long-term growth of the country’s agricultural sector.

On the flip side, Elite Agro sees this as something bigger than just stocking digital shelves. Hassan Halawy, Group Chief Executive Officer at Elite Agro Holding, described the collaboration as a way to redefine the link between production and consumption. By combining agriculture with technology and digital access, he said, the aim is to build a smarter and more resilient food model, one that strengthens national food security while improving the customer experience.

And believe it or not, this is not only about speed. The MoU also covers demand planning and supply chain optimisation, with plans to expand locally sourced products across talabat mart’s network of dark stores. For farmers, that could mean more predictable demand and a clearer route to market. For customers, it should mean consistent availability of fresh produce.

I’ve spent years watching startups in the MENA region talk about “ecosystems”, sometimes it is just a buzzword. But when you see agriculture, logistics and tech genuinely stitched together, it does feel more concrete. At Arageek, we often meet founders obsessed with solving supply chain gaps, and I can say from those conversations that food resilience is definately becoming a priority, not a side note.

The partnership also aligns neatly with the UAE’s wider push to boost national food security and promote homegrown production. Elite Agro already operates across several countries, including the UAE, Serbia, Morocco, Mauritania and Ethiopia, managing large-scale farming and agri-tech operations. Talabat, founded in Kuwait in 2004 and now headquartered in Dubai, operates across multiple MENA markets and completed its IPO on the Dubai Financial Market in December 2024. It remains a subsidiary of Delivery Hero SE.

All in all, this move positions both companies at the heart of a more local, tech-enabled food ecosystem. I reckon it is spot on timing. Consumers are more conscious about where their food comes from, and governments are more alert to supply shocks. When local farms and digital platforms join forces, it is not just good PR, it could quietly reshape how food reaches our homes.

Well… we’ll see how it plays out. But if it delivers on even half of its promise, UAE shoppers may soon taste the difference.

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