Nine months ago, Ton Wortel joined The Greenery as its new CEO. With a background in retail, he ‘entered the sector fresh’, at an organization in the middle of a reorganization. Now he has found his niche within the cooperative and the sector.
Ton Wortel, CEO The Greenery.
The Greenery is in the middle of a reorganization. What went wrong in the past?
“I think there was too little focus, and too much operating in different areas. You can carry a wide range of products, but you have to channel this well to the supply chain. For the reorganization, a new structure was defined, and I’m trying to give substance to that. We consciously opted for a retail strategy based on chain cooperation. I can contribute to that with my retail background. The Greenery has a unique position. Adding value is in the development of the expansion of a chain cooperation model. A lot was invested in that. The model stands firm now, and functions well. We see that in our delivery reliability rates, and the timeliness of our deliveries.”
Distribution centre of The Greenery in Barendrecht, the Netherlands.
The Greenery is shareholder or owner of various companies, including Wagenaar and Mulder Onions. Which companies fall outside the core activity?
“Mulder Onions is not part of our core activities, so it could be that we’ll sell or spin off the company in the future. Wagenaar is actually complementary to the core activity, and fits into our strategy well. Wagenaar is also achieving good results, and is very successful delivering to industry. Hoogsteder is also complementary. The focus in this company is Southern Europe, and France in particular. Through Hoogsteder, we supply to all French retailers. Naturelle, the organic branch, also fits perfectly into our strategy. Contrary to Wagenaar and Hoogsteder, Naturelle is fully integrated into our core activity.”
What about the activities abroad?
“In Mexico, we have a programme with twelve large growers for fruit vegetables that we sell in North America. We have a sales agency for that in Philadelphia, but that’s mostly separate from The Greenery. The production companies, a tomato grower in the United Kingdom and a mango farm in Mexico, are on the list to be spun off though, because The Greenery is not a cultivation company.
Distribution centre of The Greenery in Barendrecht, the Netherlands.
Just after the merger in 1996, many supermarkets bought at The Greenery. That has also changed over the years. Is there still room to broaden the horizon?
“We are still supplying to large retailers in Europe. I do see that markets and buyers have been lost. After the start in 1996, bit by bit we entered into the process of disintegration. You can see that in the number of members. It’s a vicious cycle: fewer members means lower volumes in the organization, which means lower sales coverage, which means expenses become a problem. At the end of the year, our finances will be in order. But does that leave you with a viable business model for the future? That can only be achieved with a stable number of members. Otherwise you’ll have the same problems in a year or two.”
Finally, you have experience in China. What are the opportunities there for our fresh produce sector?
“There are big opportunities, but also big threats. The Chinese market is huge, you can’t just say: ‘We’re going to supply to China’. The market is virtually inexhaustible in terms of volume, and the quality can’t be compared to the Dutch products. For us, China isn’t a focus market at the moment, but we do see opportunities. For instance, there is a major lack of knowledge there in cultivation and efficient production. Why would we export our products there, if we can also grow them in China?”
More information:
www.thegreenery.com
More information:
www.thegreenery.com