12.03.2024

COTO Stays True to Tradition While Meeting High Demands

In the heart of Argentina’s vibrant food industry, efficiency and tradition converge at COTO, a leading supermarket chain with 120 stores well known for its fresh meat and good quality.

Rooted in Tradition, Improved in Service

How COTO Introduced Automation into Their Stores

In the heart of Argentina’s vibrant food industry, efficiency and tradition converge at COTO, a leading supermarket chain with 120 stores well known for its fresh meat and good quality. Recognizing the need to modernize while still honoring Argentina’s rich culture when it comes to meat, COTO turned to QUPAQ’s innovative solutions to enhance their butcher shop operations.

Who Is COTO?

An Argentinian supermarket chain with 120 stores placed around the Buenos Aires area.
Founded in 1970 as a butcher shop by Alfredo Coto and his wife Gloria Coto.

What QUPAQ Delivered to the COTO store in Tigre:

1 x Portion-2-Pack 75
2 x Anytray LeanOne Rack
1 x Anytray LeanOne Buffer
3 x Tools
1 x Conveyor
Manual Packaging Line

Forward-Thinking with Tradition in Mind

COTO is committed to deliver quality and to stay true to tradition, particularly in their meat departments, where the Argentine ‘asado’ [barbecue] holds a revered place. While automation is often associated with large-scale factories, COTO took a different approach: “The president of COTO, Alfredo Coto, wanted to introduce automation for improving efficiency but also to increase production. And he wanted to keep this culture of selling fresh meat, and therefore he decided to install the machines directly into the stores” says Ariel Gaido, Chief Engineer at COTO.

COTO therefore enhanced the efficiency of their meat packaging without compromising on the authenticity of their products by cutting and packing the meat right in the supermarkets.

The butcher desk in COTO, Tigre.

A Boost in Efficiency Equaled a Boost in Service Levels

Ariel has been in charge of the implementation processes, and he notes a significant increase in COTO’s production capacity: “The numbers are between 30 and 40 percent higher in production,” he says.

Ariel furthermore emphasizes how the transition to automation has improved COTO’s service level: “In some of our biggest supermarkets, they sometimes sell up to 12.000 kilos of meat per day, so we have a lot of people waiting in line at the butcher’s desk to pick the meat they want. Therefore, by automating some of our processes, we have reduced the time of delivery which enhances the overall shopping experience for our customers.”

COTO’s production capacity has increased up to 40% after having introduced automation into their stores.

In a COTO store in Escobar on a typical Sunday, where people are waiting in line to get the meat for their Sunday asado.

Scaling Up Automation

A total of eight lines have been installed in COTO’s stores, some of them sold through QUPAQ’s partner Mitmaq. The first line was installed back in 2019 in Moreno, whereas the latest line was installed in 2023 in COTO’s brand new 14.000 m2 supermarket store in Tigre, right outside Buenos Aires.

QUPAQ’s most recent installation, the Anytray Portion-2-Pack 75, in COTO’s new 14.000 m2 supermarket store in Tigre, right outside Buenos Aires.

Looking ahead, COTO plans to further expand their utilization of QUPAQ’s machines with additional stores planned to integrate the solutions: “Space is an appreciated resource in the store, so, as we design the butchery, we make sure to integrate the packaging lines into the layout,” Ariel says. “And this year, two more stores will have the packaging lines,” he adds.

So, by strategically integrating denesting machines into their operations, COTO, the company that was founded in 1970 as a butcher shop and developed to become a leading Argentine supermarket chain, has improved their standards while still staying true to their roots.