Although Brussels is the current centre of Group Achiel De Witte, this will soon be in Mechelen. “We can no longer grow in Brussels, that’s why we’re moving our logistical centre to Mechelen. The current logistic site has bought ten extra hectares in land so that we can continue expanding,” says Jurgen de Witte of Group Achiel De Witte. From this new logistical centre, all members of the group can be supplied. The overseas containers will also mostly arrive in Mechelen. “Besides the storage and packing plant, the cutting plant will also be moved to Mechelen. Moreover, the new location will also have room for the ripening of fruit.”
Achiel and Jurgen De Witte
Speciality
Although Group Achiel De Witte thinks it’s important to keep all communication central, the import branches have all kept their own names. “We’ve made this decision because each branch has a different speciality and different customers. Starfruit is historically known for their overseas products and their supply of exotics. Central Fruit is known for their qualitative supply of European fruit and as distributor of our CIBEL brand, of course. Van Dijk Foods Belgium is panellist of Zespri and importer of top fruit,” Jurgen says. Because the group is geographically represented throughout Belgium, logistics can be organised more cheaply. “We are in control of nearly the entire supply chain. Overseas transport is the only thing we don’t take care of ourselves. Because we control such a large part of ‘from plant to plate,’ we can manage various steps, we can be transparent towards our suppliers and we can supply quality to our customers.”
Great products
Cebon, Cibel and All Nuts are the brands of Group Achiel De Witte. “We invest a lot in brands and the quality of the products that are part of these. We only want great products being part of our brands. We’ve noticed that a product brand is still very important in Belgium, while this is no longer still the case in the Netherlands,” Jurgen continues. Besides Cibel and Cebon for conventional products, De Witte also has a good reputation with organic products, Cebio, and offers a complete range of organic products. “We have demand for organic in every product group, yet demand for organic continues to be a bit limited.However, as a group we continue to invest in it, because we expect organic will become increasingly more important.”
Besides fruit, vegetables, herbs and nuts, Group Achiel De Witte also acquired their first dairy company. “We want to be able to offer our customers a complete range, and with this takeover, the first step has been made,” Jurgen says. The company’s philosophy is living healthy. “We’re already conveying this with fruit and vegetables, but we’re also a sponsor in various branches of sport, such as football and cycling, and we offer our customers Cibel-Cebon cycling kits, for example. To respond to the trends of convenience and health, pineapple peeling machines and orange juice machines of the Cebon and Cibel brand have been placed in various supermarket chains. Doing business is the strength of our company. We have to continue developing and responding to our customers’ demand.”
For more information:
Jurgen De Witte
Group Achiel De Witte
+32 22 42 08 76
jurgen@starfruit.be
www.star-fruit.eu