Tried and tested in the world of exotics, Hennie van Es and Ate Kalsbeek have now started their own company: Growers and More. “This company was born from the passion for the trade by working together with producers. Our ambition is to bring overseas growers closer to the market from our location in Ridderkerk, the Netherlands, and to supply European customers while focusing on service.”
“Just in 2018, 72 companies were founded in the Netherlands by foreign fruit or vegetable producers with commercial or logistic goals. A lot of these companies only exist for a short period, or they don’t get off the ground at all because they lack knowledge of culture or the market,” Hennie says. “Naturally some companies have proven they can be successful, particularly with mangoes and avocados. This is definitely possible for very large companies, but for producers with 100 to 300 containers per season (four to five months), as with mango or avocados, having an own sales-logistics office is too expensive, and they don’t have enough knowledge of the market when these offices are staffed with people from the country of origin.”
“We tackle this problem with our concept and by working with the growers. It’s an advantage for producers that the containers can be directly loaded and shipped, straight from the production site. No time is therefore lost waiting for the right size, as ordered by the customers. All of the containers are received by Growers and More, and they’re all checked for quality and ripeness. In the end, the end customer will receive the right products in the desired size, quality and ripeness. This way, it’s also prevented that customers receive a container with riper produce than they desired,” Hennie explains.
“It’s not new to us to work with producers. In the past we successfully guided many great projects,” Ate continues. “We both developed ourselves by working hard in the shop and wholesaler’s experience into specialists in the import and export business of exotic fruit. Hennie is known as ‘Hennie Hello the mango man’ and I even meant a lot as organiser for suppliers in typical exotics such as passionfruit, physalis and ginger. We’re very enthusiastic and want to do what we’re good at with Growers and More: bridging gaps and building relationships. Our slogan is ‘From Field to Market,’ and we can realise this with a close cooperation between producers and end customers in Europe.”
The Growers and More Group consists of:
- Growers and More BV, specialised in conventional mangoes, avocados, limes, ginger and pineapple;
- Growers and More Organics BV, organic fruit and vegetables with a large assortment in B2B or consumer packaging;
- Growers and More Packing, for packing in consumer packaging. 
For more information:
Growers and More
Handelsweg 120
2988 DC Ridderkerk, the Netherlands
Tel: +31 85 07 69 001
Ate Kalsbeek Commercie ate@growersandmore.com
Hennie van es Commercie hennie@growersandmore.com
Sylvia de Graaf Administratie sylvia@growersandmore.com
Nathalie van Es Organics nathalie@growersandmore.com
Guntis Dille Packing packing@growersandmore.com