"If the relationship is good, the trade will follow"

With the takeover of half the shares of Davis Produce and Davis Worldwide by Edward Koemans, the main office of the originally British fruit and vegetable company has moved to Barendrecht. "As Davis Europe we are a real European trading company and the same goes for Davis Produce which supplies wholesalers and caterers with vegetables. Davis Worldwide connects growers to customers and looks for the right people in the right markets for this right price. They are much more on the suppliers side and see themselves as a necessary service providers for their growers."

"We receive a lot of positive feedback on this manner of working. If you don't intend to compete, but to bring together supply and demand, it is much more friendly. We work independently and take responsibility for the produce of our growers and suppliers in the area of quality, logistics and food safety. This is often a different matter in our sector with commission trade for example, but we believe it is a condition for working with fresh products."

Edward Koemanswith his British colleagues Paul Tomlinson and Mark Wright

The British market plays an important role for Davis. "Besides the import from the global fruit production areas we also export British product outside of Europe. This is a double edged sword and makes our suppliers also customers. New opportunities for this have been created due to Brexit and the devaluation of the pound. We are seeing this in the export of English potatoes to Dubai. We also expect new opportunities to arise with the trade treaties that will follow."

"We consciously choose a specific package of products. We aren't a supermarket. We are specialised in top fruit, pineapple, grapes, limes and mangoes and my British colleagues have a background in cherries, kiwis and stonefruit. We sell these products both to wholesalers and suppliers of supermarkets. We want to remain small and flexible at all times. However the wind blows, we will follow."

"We have a passion for people and products, in that order. That is why I don't believe in online trade and we visit our contacts as much as possible ourselves. Our method of working is purely focused on relationships. These might be old fashioned values, but they are very important to us. This is why we work hard to see whether new colleagues fit into this method. We believe that if the relationship is good, the trade and production will follow. That's what we have discovered. In two years time our turnover has doubled."

For more information:
Edward Koemans
Davis Europe
Koopliedenweg 3b
2991 LN Barendrecht
Tel: 0031 (0) 88-2665555
ekoemans@davisworldwide.nl