Rush for free snack tomatoes thanks to un-Dutch heat

Snack tomatoes have gained popularity in recent years. Up to now, this has not yet led to traffic jams. This is, however, precisely what happened on Friday afternoon, 3 August, in Honselersdijk, the Netherlands. Here, from 13:00, people were able to collect snack tomatoes for free. This was after an appeal by Greenco, an international snack vegetable grower and packer, on the Dutch classified advertising website, Marktplaats. The reason: wrinkles and dents caused by the un-Dutch high temperatures. These defects meant these snack tomatoes could not be sold as Tommies by Greenco.

To his surprise, Ab van Marrewijk saw people rushing to get their hands on these snack tomatoes.

They still tasted 'delicious', according to the Marktplaats advertisement. This, along with articles in the Dutch newspapers, De Telegraaf and the Algemeen Dagblad, caused a rush long before 13:00. Ab van Marrewijk from Greenco, standing among the cars in the parking lot, said: "Within two hours we got rid of 20 tonnes of these little tomatoes here in Honselersdijk. People could collect up to 100 kg of these tomatoes without an appointment. This happened on a much larger scale than we anticipated. We quickly had to arrange traffic controllers to manage the full parking lot, and the traffic jam that was created."

Sold out

Traffic controllers

At about 15:00, a banner with 'Sold Out' in large letters was hung in Honselersdijk. However, the cars and bicycles kept coming. In Middenmeer, all the tomatoes were also quickly handed out. Ab could also easily predict what would happen to the last remaining stock in Someren on Saturday. One of the curious people who missed out said, "It is a shame, but Limburg is really too far to drive. Honselersdijk was already far."

Hopeful for the last remaining stock, people gathered at the loading dock.

These heat-damaged tomatoes came from Greenco's cultivation areas in Middenmeer, North Holland. There, crops had just been rotated. This left the young plants vulnerable to the extreme heat. Ad says, "One week's harvest was lost due to this. Fortunately, we were able to find these still-good tomatoes a good home." Greenco initially approached food banks and soup manufacturers. They, however, did not immediately know what to do with this offer. On Monday, the food bank did, however, collect a load of these snack tomatoes.

For more information:

Greenco
www.greenco.nl
info@greenco.nl