"By adjusting our course in time, we have a broad range of clients"

The number of fresh produce wholesalers has declined sharply in recent years. Still, Jan Bakker of the wholesaler by the same name from Bovenkarspel, isn't pessimistic about the future. "It's always been like this, you have to make sure you have enough money left in the end. As an eight-year-old lad, I started selling cauliflower door to door for my father, and that's really what I'm still doing. It's just the clients and the volumes that change, so you have to adjust your course in time."

"We used to supply mostly to retailers and market vendors, but as everyone knows, that target audience has decreased strongly. For this reason, we have started supplying to new buyers for years now. You shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, so we try to have as broad a range of clients as possible. For instance, we supply a lot to processing companies, restaurant wholesalers, exporters and supermarkets. The immigrant clients are also buying a lot more. And we have Polish customers who come to load their products here themselves," Bakker says.

The fleet of vehicles with the staff in the centre and the Bakker AGF building in the background

Another important target audience is the German market, where Bakker took their first steps twenty years ago. "We drive to Twente, Overijssel and Gelderland daily, and the German market was a good addition to that. From the Ruhr area towards Osnabrück and Hannover, enough people live. A big advantage is that we have logistics in our own hands. We can be present everywhere with our own trucks, and it's a plus to have a reputation of delivering your stuff to clients in time."

Bakker AGF carries a complete range, but specializes in large vegetables like cabbage, carrots, beetroot, potatoes and onions, as well as the full greenhouse vegetable range and Dutch top fruit. "We purchase a lot of vegetables directly from the growers. We don't import ourselves, but we purchase what the client asks for. Ultimately, apart from the quality, it's all about the price. It's our task to get a small profit out of that."

Bakker AGF in earlier times, with Jan on the bonnet

"You have to keep doing your best, but I don't look to the future with pessimism. When you consider the 38 hours your neighbour works, you'd have to retire at once, but it doesn't come easy for that neighbour either now. I love the trade as much as I did in the past. I'm raising the third Bakker generation, with my son and daughter working in the business, and another son maintaining the trucks. That's how we do it for," Jan concludes.

For more information:
Bakker AGF
De Tocht 7
1611 HT Bovenkarspel
Tel: +31(0)228-515739
Fax: +31(0)228-516214
info@bakkeragf.nl