“We've gone from 20 to 18,000 m2 in a 100 years”

The Luxembourg company Grosbusch celebrated its 100th anniversary in June. “We also opened a new building in Ellange. We invested 20 million euro in various spaces in this branch. In total, we’ve gained 12,500 square metres, in addition to the current 4,500 square metres. We now have 57 loading docks, 13 new cold stores and a car wash for our lorries. We now have a separate department to cut fruit, and to prepare the office fruit. My great-grandfather started with a small shop of 20 square metres in 1917, and he sold all kinds of fresh produce. Nowadays we work with a total surface area of 18,000 square metres,” says Goy Grosbusch, one of the owners.

Additionally, the company also introduced the brand ‘Grosbusch.’ “We now offer products under Grosbusch and Grosbusch Bio, and will replace the brands Vitality and Biovitality. We’ve consciously chosen to put our own name on the products. That way, we can show even more clearly that we’re proud of what we supply, and that we’re responsible for quality and sourcing,” Goy continues. Goy and Lynn Grosbusch are the current managers. They work with their father René and uncle André. “To us, it’s important to serve all buyers equally, and that everyone receives the same good quality products. We are a family company, and greatly value after-sales and advising our customers. That’s also how we’re trying to stimulate their growth.”

This year, Grosbusch introduced Grosbusch Academy, which allows fruit and vegetable lovers to receive fresh produce training. “Our sector doesn’t really have specific training, so we introduced this. We have trained all of our employees and people from our customers, and we’re going to expand on this.” The company also came up with the idea of Grosbusch Kids, with which they hope to playfully teach children more about fruit and vegetables.

At the start of 2017 less than 200 people worked for the company, and by now that number has risen to 240 employees. “We’re growing incredibly quickly, and it’s our ambition to continue developing both nationally and internationally. For example, we started air freight to the African market, and are also focusing on countries such as China and the Emirates. Our goal is to increase our sales by 20 per cent every year. We want to realise this by innovating, developing new products and exporting more.”

Organic is another important pillar. “This is a segment that grew by 30 per cent last year, and we expect it to grow even more. It’s a trend that can be seen all over the world. Regarding Europe, the growth varies per country, but everyone is in on it. That’s why we chose to start our own organic brand, under which we have an extensive product range. Ten years ago, the organic range was still very limited, and it mostly consisted of carrots, different varieties of lettuce and apples. Nowadays, however, we have a range of 400 organic products that we supply year-round.”

In 2009 the company started Fruit@office. “Because we believe in improving health and welfare at work.” In 2016, Grosbusch supplied 60,000 crates of fruit to offices. “Besides, we supply more and more prepackaged and freshly cut fruit, primarily to supermarkets, hotels and restaurants. This is how we’re responding to the convenience trend.”

“To celebrate our 100th anniversary, we had a party on 17 and 18 June, and we invited more than 30,000 people. They were given a tour, they could participate in cookery workshops, and various other festivities that had been set up to celebrate this event. We had a ‘food village’ where everything was 100 per cent vegetarian and vegan. Various types of fruit and vegetables were wonderfully presented here,” Goy concludes.