In the Netherlands, the open-field lettuce season is in full swing at Bij Tuinderij Boender. "Due to the cold spring, it took a while to get going, but the season's now well underway. The current sunny, windy weather makes keeping the lettuce wet quite challenging, but they look good," says Janske Boender.
Janske and her husband Mart cultivate open-field lettuce on almost ten hectares. They used to have Lollo Bionda, Lollo Rossa, and red and green oak leaf lettuce, but this year they added Romaine, green Frisée, and butter lettuce, among others. "We lost our biggest customer, so started looking for new buyers."
"We hoped to find them quickly, so we began directly exploring the market. A visit to the Fruit Logistica is a good example of our approach. We went there to talk to people. That approach paid off because we've gained some great customers in various segments. It's actually only gotten better," Janske admits.
"We found new customers in, especially, the hospitality segment. That's wonderful and suits us well. This target group prefers to purchase a broad assortment, and we've responded to that. We can supply both large and small buyers with mixed pallets. But we have several fixed lines running to processors too. We made many fixed agreements this season and will, thus, have a little less available for day trade. It's great to have that certainty of sales."
Lollo Rossa and green Frisée
According to Boender, at present, finding labor is the biggest challenge. "That remains difficult. We offer a nice, centrally located workplace. Hopefully, more hiring will happen soon so our team can expand and we can run at full capacity," she says,
Instagrammable
With a new website and social media posts, Tuinderij Boender hopes to enlighten its clients about all of its open-field lettuce possibilities. "That meets a need. Hospitality customers like beautiful products, and our lettuces are very Instagrammable. The great thing is you can buy our lettuce worldwide. From Europe to the Middle East, you'll find our products on consumers' plates. It's nice to then go that extra mile online and inspire people as to what they can do with our beautiful products," concludes Janske.
For more information:
Tuinderij Boender
5 Noorder Street
3264 AP, Nieuw-Beijerland, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 611 157 354
Email: janske@tuinderijboender.nl
Website: www.tuinderijboender.nl