“Customers can order per head from us”

The Day Shops are a cross between supermarkets and specialist’s shops and have a shop floor of between 100 and 400 square metres. Van Tol Versunie has full confidence in the future of these types of shops. Last year, their look was completely modernised. Fresh produce and fresh products are prominently present near the entry. Focus is 60 per cent on fresh, 40 per cent on KW and 100 per cent on service. Day shops can also open online shops under lekkermakkelijk.nl.

Springer is the formula for about 100 entrepreneurs with shops on wheels. Van Tol Versunie covers 90 per cent of daily shopping. The entrepreneur completes that range with local or regional products at his own discretion. Visitors at holiday parks, which are actually like small villages, also go to the supermarket. The Recra formula anticipates that. Peter: “Oxheart cabbage can be bought there as well, the shops are complete supermarkets. We supply all Roompot parks, and recently, a shop at the Huttenheugte from Center Parcs was opened.” Van Tol Versunie does not just supply to supermarkets, but also to suppliers from care, who do their combined shopping for care homes. 

The responsibility of buying all fresh produce lies with colleague Jan van de Graaf. Peter: “He buys through various channels: auctions, wholesalers and traders. He also buys directly from (Spanish) cultivators, which is how the entrepreneurs distinguish themselves by offering exclusive strains of tangerines or strawberries. Jan is in direct contact with the customers and knows them through and through. They can order from them, but they can also ask him for advice.”

Besides the three formulas, Van Tol Versunie has been specialised in global exports for 40 years already. Within fresh produce, import and export of juice oranges from Italy to Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles is an important part. “Fresh export is not simple. Legislation in our own country, but also that of export countries is becoming increasingly more complex, and enforcement is becoming stricter. Moreover, getting the fresh goods from A to B has to be done with some urgency. The distribution centre in Heerhugowaard has a ‘Customs zone,’ a space that is exclusively accessible to certified employees of Versunie and customs house officials. Because of this, much paperwork is already taken care of when the product arrives in the Port of Rotterdam or at Schiphol Airport, and no precious time is lost. And it is the same in the destination countries, so that the products arriving on the shelves are truly fresh.”