“Continue to make consumers enthused about potatoes”

Although prices for bulk potatoes reached an all-time low in the past season, prices for products with an added value weren’t “as dramatic.” Special varieties, small packaging and convenience products had a better season. Jan Bijleveld, manager of Leo de Kock, and Mariska Werring, sales manager, have seen the market growing. Besides, the company contributed to the new potato department of Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn.

“We sell, among other things, small packaging for potatoes of special origin or that have special uses,” Mariska characterises the potato company from Purmerend, the Netherlands. “Years ago we became specialised in products with an added value.” Such as Dutch varieties like Opperdoezer Ronde, or the originally French Roseval. “The season for Opperdoezer Ronde has just started,” Mariska says in the second week of June. The typical regional potato from North Holland is grown roughly 30 kilometres north of Leo de Kock. “We have good contacts with the growers.”

Typically French varieties such as Lady Christl can also be found in their range. This potato is grown on an island off the west coast of Brittany. “The potatoes are hand-picked. During the harvest, the entire island is all about grubbing up,” Mariska says. She personally visited the island during the harvest this year. “You get a better feel for the potatoes, and we’re now better able to tell the story behind the potatoes.” The potatoes are only available during the season.

Telling that story is important, particularly when it comes to special varieties such as Opperdoezer Ronde or Lady Christl. “We do that via the packaging, for example, or via online channels,” Mariska explains. Jan: “We always mention the variety on the packaging. That’s important for culinary potatoes, but it also depends on the segment in which the potatoes are presented.”

The market for organic potatoes is also developing well, in part thanks to new varieties such as Alouette and Carolus, which are resistant to Phytophthora. “We’re strong in organic, with good varieties,” Jan says. The company markets varieties from parent company Agrico, which supplies the Alouette and Carolus. “Phytophthora continues to challenge the entire potato production, but these varieties are resistant.” Besides, the varieties have good yields for the growers.

Of the conventional varieties, Leo de Kock markets practically only Agrico’s varieties as well. “We don’t work based on contract production, but it’s quite close to it,” Jan says. “We need some guarantees for the volumes needed during the season.” The company has strict requirements for the potatoes and the production. This means not all potatoes are suitable for the company. “Besides legal requirements, which apply to everyone, we also work with supermarket conditions. Growers have to meet these,” he explains. Supermarkets in the Netherlands and Belgium are the company’s main clientele. One requirement implemented by supermarkets as of next season, is Milieukeur/Planetproof. “Growers have to meet this, so it’ll be less easy to switch between growers. We have to make clear agreements. The free market changes when more requirements are implemented regarding how the potatoes are grown.”

Years ago, the company chose to invest in small packaging, a non-existent market at the time, although it has grown rapidly in recent years. “You can see a lot of packers responding to that market, and that supermarkets copy each other’s ideas,” Mariska says. “We want to work on new products with our customers, and develop new things. Cooperation is our biggest strength.” One example of that is the renewed potato department of Albert Heijn. “This process, for which we work with Albert Heijn, Agrico and Nedato, went well.”

Although it’s not a potato, it is called a sweet potato. Whether the name is correct or not, the market is growing globally. Leo de Kock also has sweet potatoes in their range. The exotics are imported from the US. According to Jan, quality of the Dutch production is still insufficient. “Varieties grown in the US are protected, so they can’t be grown in the Netherlands,” he says. Because of this, the Dutch product is less homogeneous. “A lot of varieties are grown in different shapes and sizes. It’s difficult for Dutch growers to get this under control, so that the product is more difficult to pack for us.” The new production can lead to excesses, such as a sweet potato that’s 40 centimetres longs. “We would naturally like to trade in Dutch sweet potatoes, but much still has to happen before that. Besides, price often decided consumers as well.”

Investments are needed to keep potatoes appealing to consumers. “It’s important to continue making consumers enthused about potatoes,” Mariska says. “There’s a large group of consumers that still eats meat, potatoes and vegetables for dinner, but younger generations want something else, such as potatoes with their skin still on from the oven.” That requires a diversity of products and new concepts. One example of this is the packaging that has a steam valve, making it easier to prepare the potatoes. Convenience is an important branch of the company. This is expressed in packaging or methods of preparation, but also in the choice of varieties.

The company has grown so large that a temporary warehouse and office have been placed in the parking lot. The building plans for a new warehouse and office are now ready. Construction of a new building for the potato trade will start in Purmerend next year. But before this happens, a new ERP system has already been invested in, and machines have been replaced. “We’re ready for the future because of this.”

The company has started implementing a new ERP solution of Axians. With I-Fresh, Jan expects more peace within the organisation because processes can be kept under control better. “This results in significant time savings. Our processes are becoming increasingly more difficult to keep track of. Our previous ERP solution did not support this enough, so we worked with Excel a lot. All purchases were done via mail or phone, and storage was manually counted and kept track of in Excel every day. That was fine ten years ago, but we’ve become too big for that now.”

When choosing a new partner, it was important to have the option to expand the system with multiple companies, besides reliability. Leo de Kock chose Axians, because they offer a solution that is a combination of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and I-Fresh, which suits the processes well. “It’s a complete package, and practically completely meets our wishes. For example, it has tare reports, transport assignments and cask registration as a standard. We very much prefer little custom work, because we just don’t have an entire IT team at our disposal to keep track of custom jobs. Besides, Axians also has the benefit that they supply both software and hardware. This unburdens us.”

Leo de Kock

Jan Bijleveld

Mariska Werring