The temporary hospitality sector closure during the pandemic affected the bean sprout market too. Now, however, sales at Mulders Top Sprouts are up and running again. In fact, their bean sprouts are doing so well that expansion is necessary. Last year, this Dutch company's bean sprout sales rose by at least 50%. To properly store these sprouts, they needed more refrigeration space. "So, we invested in a new cold room, thus, doubling our cooling capacity," begins Tonnie Mulders. "The new unit means we can cool the sprouts down from 20 to 3°C within an hour of harvesting. That ensures the product has an even better shelf life."
Better shelf life, less waste
To store its bean sprouts, Mulders Top Sprouts has chosen to cool them using a vacuum wall. The air is, as it were, sucked through the bean sprouts. Verschuure Koudetechniek will install the system. At the time of writing, the new cold store was almost ready for use, and Tonnie cannot wait. "This cooling technique is quite unique for bean sprouts; a standard refrigeration system is usually used. Vacuum cooling is often used for, say, leafy vegetables. We specifically choose this cooling method because you cool the bean sprouts quickly and efficiently. Standard cooling technology doesn't allow for that. The faster the product cools, the higher its quality and shelf life," he says.
Tonnie says they considered other refrigeration systems, but, according to him, for bean sprouts, vacuum cooling is the most effective and energy-friendly. This technique cools only the product, not the whole cold store, which uses less power. "We're installing 400 solar panels which will run the refrigeration. We're also going to use heat recovery, so we can use the heat released during cooling to grow the plants."
Increasing production to meet growing demand
Besides the new cooling system, the company will soon get a new mung bean (bean sprouts' raw material) washing and soaking system built. That will let Mulders Top Sprouts get the starting material even cleaner and remove any irregularity. "The increasing bean sprout demand calls for expansion. Despite our bean sprouts' good quality and shelf life, we continue looking for possible improvements. These investments result in an even better, cleaner end product," Muder continues. Its expanded cooling capacity means Mulders Sprouts will soon be able to increase production and continue meeting increasing demand. Since the pandemic, production has increased significantly, and with these improvements and expansions, Tonnie expects to grow by 25% this year.
According to him, the increased demand is thanks to the quality of Mulders Top Sprouts' product. "Because of how we grow them, our bean sprouts have characteristically thicker, firm, and somewhat shorter shoots. It takes a week to get them from bean to sprout. We cultivate them very slowly and gradually. They also have a good bite, so even after frying or stir-frying, our bean sprouts remain crunchy for a long time. That's why customers choose Mulders Sprouts. We've been in business for seven years; I’ve been active in the industry since I was 16. It's nice to see that more and more clients know we have a quality product. We don't have to be the biggest, but we do want to be the best in quality," Tonnie concludes.
For more information:
Tonnie Mulders
Mulders Top Sprouts
info@mulderstopsprouts.nl
mulders.tonnie@gmail.com
www.mulderstopsprouts.nl