“2018 will be the year of our national breakthrough”

Nino Venezia started his career as head of the post room / printer of Veiling ZON. In 2000 he chose free enterprise, and over the years, Graphic & Mail became a concept in the fresh produce sector in the field of labels, index cards and more. With the name change to Dutch Graphic Group, the entrepreneur emphasised his ambitions last year. “2018 will be the year of our national breakthrough.”

The Dutch Graphic Group can rightly be called a family company. Besides his wife Anita, his two sons Gino and Enzo also work for the company. Nino, 55, has decided to turn over all his shares to his sons this year. “I’ve now been working for 40 years, and I could say I’ve done two shifts for 30 years. My health ins’t great, and that’s why I gradually want to withdraw from the company. The boys can then take over. But I’ll definitely remain involved with the major accounts in coming years, and I mostly want to focus on getting new projects.”

New office

It will definitely not become less busy in coming months, because the Dutch Graphic Group has rented a 2,600 m2 building at the Fresh Park site, where activities of the branches in Venlo and Blerick will centred starting this summer. “I’m looking forward to working from one location, we can continue becoming more efficient this way. This deal came about thanks to the excellent cooperation with Fresh Park Venlo, and a compliment to Lizbeth van den Boogaart and Ingrid Henderickx is definitely in order. This move will be a major challenge, because production can naturally not stop, but we’ll manage this.”

LED printing press

Dutch Graphic Group is keeping up with the times, and last year, they installed the latest printing press based on LED technologies, the first of these in the Benelux. This Mark Andy P5 printing press is ozone-neutral and the ink is ‘food-approved.’ The investment did no harm to the entrepreneur, because the second LED printing press was installed in July. Last year, a robot making blank labels followed these investments. “Our capacity increased considerably because of this, but so has our turnover. After years of 30 to 40 per cent growth, I expect to double our turnover this year,” Nino says.

“We’re incredibly busy in the Dutch season. That’s a bit less during a few months per year, and that’s why we’re expressly looking outside of the fresh produce sector to fill our winter months. We never had an account manager, but in future we want to start approaching new markets a bit more actively. From July/August we’ll also have a digital machine at our disposal, to quickly supply labels in small volumes, because delivery times for these are particularly important. We’ll increasingly ensure our name is mentioned when it comes to a good product for a good price, and equally important is a fast delivery time where this is desired.”

However, the entrepreneur will never lose sight of the fresh produce sector. “This is where we made our name, and we want to become even bigger in this sector. Everything in this sector is about time, and our delivery times set us apart. For example, everyone knows the strawberry season starts in April/May, yet each year the top cards are ordered late in spring. Thanks to our large stocks and flexible attitude we can supply quicker than everyone else. Our capital is in material. Customers could receive their labels within three days, if necessary. Sleeves are a rising trend. These cardboard sleeves as cover of meal kits are properly booming. We supply millions of these sleeves to German retail. Our role is also becoming increasingly advisory, so that we’re becoming more of a service provider.”

For more information:
Nino Venezia
Dutch graphic group
Venrayseweg 114
5928 RH Venlo, the Netherlands
T. +31 (0)77 - 399 96 40
F. +31 (0)77 - 399 96 49
nino@dutchgraphicgroup.com
www.dutchgraphicgroup.com