"We produce more than half of what we offer"

Hans de Boer and Daan van der Giessen, have settled in the building of Opticool in Rotterdam during the summer, as a sales company of SanLucar for the market of the Benelux. “The concept of SanLucar has proven itself as successful in Germany and Austria. The brand recognition has increased in the Benelux, but with regard to supermarket shelf space, there is a lot of ground yet to cover, which is a nice challenge for us. We have literally started with three computers and monitors and we are looking forward to seeing what becomes of us!”

SanLucar started out as a sales organization between three Spanish and one Italian producer. “The company started in 1993, but by now it has 2500 employees and a turnover of about 350 million euro,” says Hans. “The past few months I have wondered about the size of the company. We are offering about ninety products from thirty countries all over the world. We have our own production in Ecuador, Tunisia, South Africa, Germany, Austria, and Spain. Our assortment started with citrus fruits, grapes, stone and soft fruit, from the four ‘founding fathers’ of SanLucar, but nowadays we have many more products in our portfolio. For instance, we have a few exotic fruits such as pineapple and bananas.”

“In the various product groups we are strongly represented. For example, within the European market we are the largest player in the field of Nadercott and Orri tangerines. We are now offering them 10 months per year, but we are expecting that we might be able to offer them all year round,” he continues. “Another novelty is that we can extend the European grape season until December with seedless Italian grapes. The later European grapes have a better quality than the first overseas grapes from Brazil and Namibia. Because of new cooling innovations, with static cooling we can store these grapes in better conditions than those in which the overseas grapes find themselves - in a container for four weeks.”

“Because of the complete control over the supply chain, we can distinguish ourselves with our own production. For example, white grapes should be green in the Netherlands and more yellow in Belgium and France. We are literally getting photographs from our quality department in the field to show us which grapes are most suitable for which client. This is only possible because we are so close to the source and the clients appreciate that,” Hans continues. “All of the overseas fruit of SanLucar destined for the European market arrives at Opticool. We are on top of the quality control and packaging and thus we can play with possible shortages or over supply for the other European sales offices.”

“Within the Netherlands, we have started the distribution of our brand concept through four selected wholesalers. SanLucar is definitely not a traditional wholesaler organization, but helps her clients by investing in the source and the brand and the optimal arrangement of the fresh produce segment. “I have recently spoken to an Edeka entrepreneur who increased his turnover from fruit and vegetables by 20%, all because of the changes in his supermarket as a result from the consumer scan of SanLucar. Talking about added value!”