The Cretan Quality Agremment in In – On magazine

The Cretan Agreement on Quality should function more as a «movement» that promotes the return to the healthy traditional Cretan Diet, reinforces the local products and more efficiently connects production to the services of tourism rather than merely business. In order to promote the establishment of Crete as a unique and qualitative gastronomy destination along with the reinforcement of its economy, the directress of the company «Cretan Agreement on Quality» Mrs. Zoe Novak (Environmental Engineer and District official, post-graduated in Quality Check and Environmental Management) gave an interview to «In-On» magazine, Something like that -she referred- cannot be initiated only by the market (the so called «market driven»), since in order to achieve our goal, co-operation among various services, companies and social groups is required. For that reason, it is important that this initiation belongs to prefectural authorities of Crete, which by nature can wholeheartedly support such a vision concerning the development of the island and rallying all those who need to work collectively towards this direction. Furthermore, they have the prestige and the power to support such an effort.
The Cretan Agreement on Quality was not created to replace sections of the prefecture  -she underlined- but to function as an intermediary vehicle that coordinates actions realized all over the island regarding the field of food and Cretan cuisine.

She also stressed that «the function of the Cretan Agreement on Quality corresponds to the international term Cluster, a cooperative formation or else a network of businesses and services that cooperate in order to increase competiveness among the enterprises involved and also to achieve wider goals that have to do with regional development and common good.  Thus,  as the «Cluster of the Cretan Diet», the Cretan Agreement on Quality aims in the co-operation and the materialization of common actions with services, companies and social groups of the island that connect the production of local products with tourism. In this way there is an upgrading of local products, the Cretan Diet is established as a way of life, the tourist product is enriched with services of gastronomy and wine orientation, establishing, therefore, Crete as a gastronomy destination, finally increasing competitiveness among local enterprises.

For this goal to achieve, the structure of the Cretan Agreement on Quality will function as following: there will be a Promotion Section inside the company’s building, which will promote Cretan Diet, local products and certified restaurants, along with a Certification Department that will deal with the distribution of the company’s Certificate of Cretan Cuisine to restaurants. Moreover, in the framework of the Cretan Agreement on Quality the four prefectural sectors will handle the materialization of a series of actions upon the strategic axes the company has decided to move on during the meeting of the Board of Directors. These axes are (1) the local gastronomic tradition (promotion of the Cretan Diet as a way of life), (2) health (connection of the Cretan Diet to health improvement), (3) local foods (support on the modernization of the process of production), (4) the environment (promotion of the «green development» of the island), (5) civilization (connection of the Cretan Diet to our civilization), (6) tourism (promotion of the gastronomic tourism). The above actions will be decided on the level of the Cretan Agreement on Quality and will be materialized in cooperation with the relative services of the prefectural authorities and other departments as well.

The network is based on the logic of inter sectional cooperation, meaning the need of all parts to cooperate (the public sector, businesses and social groups) and contributes to a complete problems  solution and the achievement of a viable development of a place. Due to globalization, now the local communities compete with other areas and products in trade from all over the globe, something that requires joint action in order to promote an area and fight for a share in the international market. The Cretan Agreement on Quality was created to assist this necessary transition – to facilitate it. The competition is globally increasing and the only way for an island like Crete, which is mainly based on small and medium sized companies to respond, is networking. Surely, it is only through co-operation that we will be able to organize, to project a uniform image to the world and establish ourselves to a globalized market. Through cooperation we can win and have the opportunity to efficiently build upon the special features that differentiate us from other destinations. So let Cretan Diet, local products and the quality of our services be our added advantage».

Source: In- On

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Tags: culinary destination, culinary tourism, Cretan cuisine, Cretan Quality Agreemment, promotion