The Partnership no. 12

have their own focus,

have their own focus, but some cross-pollination certainly takes Chain-wide dialogue choice for specific varieties could make a significant difference retailer has an exclusive flavour tomato in their own packaging, place. Of course this also takes place between the companies that The customers of Greenyard’s Fresh division are supermarket in the fresh produce section,” he explains. This resulted in the which sells really well. I could provide more examples – there belong to the Fresh division.” chains, food service companies and the food industry. According seed companies informing retailers about the different varieties. are definitely more – but we are very reticent about that due to Not the odd one out to De Vries, the company supplies a large part of the product range of 19 of the 20 largest supermarket chains in Europe on a However, it soon became obvious that various parties would have to join forces. “Product innovation and value creation require real competition. If you have a good look around in Europe, you will see examples sooner or later.” To many outsiders, the Horticulture division – specialised in the development and sales of substrates and growing media daily basis. In order to offer good service, we closely follow their wishes and translate these to product and packaging concepts. teamwork from the entire chain: from retailer, service provider, grower and seed company.” according to Kornet. Groot confirms Increasing consumption – appears to be the odd one out. De Vries points out that this And to suppliers who can meet these demands. As close as that this teamwork is crucial and that Enza Zaden also greatly Better scores on the shelves can be achieved in many ways, that division also contributes to the value creation by Fresh, Frozen possible, as far as necessary. values this teamwork. much is clear. It is also clear that this concept has taken hold and Prepared. “Due to our size, we prefer to work with large growing De Vries adds: “Based on our common goal of improving the company-wide at Greenyard. Goovaerts states that the fruit & “Greenyard is obviously more than just a trading company that companies,” explains the managing director. “Together we work on-shelf performance of fruit and vegetables, Greenyard focuses vegetables trade is of major strategic importance to retailers, excels in logistics,” he says. “As a service provider, we put a lot out how best to get the products to the customer according to primarily on concept development and marketing, processing considering the large turnover and profit contribution, but also of energy into sourcing both conventional and new products and the desired specifications. We do not try to take the place of the – if applicable – and logistics. Enza Zaden gives us an early considering the distinguishing character – a chain can truly into sourcing growers who are able to deliver excellent quality in grower, but we do want to discuss matters with him.” warning about innovations and makes a major contribution to distinguish itself from the competitors in this trade and bind a sustainable manner. What makes Horticulture so valuable to our The company also holds this type of dialogue with the seed the development of growing recipes. We present the appealing customers. group is the fact that it develops substrates that allow the growers companies. Chris Groot from Enza Zaden and marketing specialist innovations to the category managers of our clients. Sometimes “Not enough attention is paid to this at store level,” she adds. to perform better. For example, because these substrates make Gerrit-Jan Kornet from Greenyard Fresh Netherlands meet on we dress the product up to form a total concept that – in our “In addition, the consumer experiences some stress of choice, it possible to increase production or improve quality. Often they a regular basis. “Seed companies are the source of product opinion – will fare even better in sales.” because they cannot always see what a product is intended for can even achieve both. In addition, they can contribute to our innovation, which has become increasingly important to us,” “Of course mutual trust is essential in such partnerships,” when they see it on the shelf. We have noticed that our marketing sustainability goals, because crops grown on these substrates are according to Kornet. “In the past, trading companies had hardly according to Groot. “I hear and see a lot, both at Greenyard and efforts can make a difference in both cases. We are happy often less susceptible to diseases and plagues and require less any in-house knowledge about products and varieties, but that is at other companies. It goes without saying that you treat this about this, because everything needs to be perfect if you want water and fertilizers. This increases the performance throughout – at least for our company – a thing of the past. In fact, I was hired information as strictly confidential.” the customer to consume more fruit and vegetables. First and the value chain, what consumers and customers expect from us.” here a number of years ago to use my broad product knowledge to bring our customer-oriented marketing services to a higher Total concept foremost on the shop floor and at other points of sale, including school canteens. Greenyard is not fighting against the trends, but This expectation is also incorporated in the Greenyard mission level.” Corporate Communications Manager Nancy Goovaerts mentions wants to work with chain partners to respond pro-actively. Is the statement: "We are committed to grow consumption of fruit and vegetables for a healthy future, by partnering with the best parties Knowledge of products and varieties is essential a tomato variety that a Belgian retailer sells in its stores under its own premium label as an example of a successful total concept. consumer short on time? We offer convenience. Are consumers exhibiting more grazing behaviour? We offer tasty and healthy in the chain from fork to field to meet consumer needs. Creating According to Chris Groot, the trading companies had an “This variety is grown exclusively for us on bags of organic snacks that you can eat on-the-go. We also pay extra attention value for all." increasing need for product knowledge due to the enormous substrate by our own Horticulture division,” she explains. “The to schools and youth in general. After all, you cannot start soon differentiation in the product supply, which became visible in the benefit for the grower is that the plants hardly develop crazy roots, enough when trying to stimulate a healthy eating pattern. Fruit mid 1990s and spread from there. “It became clear then that your which does happen when growing on mineral wool. After the and vegetables play a major role in this, whether they are fresh, plants have been grown, the bags are fully compostable. And the frozen or prepared.” 22 | The Partnership The Partnership | 23