Under the name 'Den Berk Délice' four Belgian growers offer their products to Veiling Hoogstraten. The wide range of products they offer originate from 40 acres of land, says Koen Lauwerysen.
The concept and packaging of the new brand 'Dan Berk Délice' will be presented at Fruit Logisitca next week. Behind the brand are four Belgian growers.
A few years ago Luc Beirinckx and Koen Lauwerysen jointly founded the Den Berk BVBA nursery. In just a few years, the company had 25 acres containing greenhouses with partly diffused glass and lighting. With fellow grower, Hans van Gool, they established the brand 'Dan Berk Délice'. Since the autumn, Paul van de Mierop has joined them to pick up the promotional side of the new brand and to determine the marketing strategy together with Veiling Hoogstraten. Dan Berk Délice's products will be sold via Veiling Hoogstraten.
The Miss Perfect!
Market Research
Creating the brand, the packaging and the concepts all stem from market research the growers did in recent years, "One of the things we studied was what you can get in the supermarket, how these products are packaged, and how they are presented," says Koen Lauwerysen. "With this knowledge and our own ideas we went to the Veiling and to the retail sector to see how we could move further together." The choice for cooperation can also be seen in their logo which was designed last year for Den Berk, and is now carried by four farms: Fresh Retail Partner. "This is where we want to go with the Veiling and with trade." Reactions have been positive, says the grower, "This is a long-term strategy. We want to work together, which will also give us added value."
Wide Range
Dan Berk Délice offers a wide range of products. All four of the companies have segments of the 'Juanita' variety, which is sold through the Veiling under the name 'Cherrystar'. "Because we want to sell a wide range of products we also have a few other varieties such as the 'Brioso' and the standard tomatoes 'Prunella' and 'Princess'", says Lauwerysen. Exclusively for the Belgian market Den Berk Délice has Kumato, Bellino and a partymix in various colours, "We are trying to approach the market broadly." The wide range is completed with 'Miss Perfect!'. "We chose this tasty and sweet tomato because it is an exclusive tomato in Belgium with a high sugar content, crisp bite and a relatively high acidity. This combination makes for a very special, intense and fresh taste. It's very good."
Packaging
At Fruit Logisitca the 'Miss Perfect!' tomato will be shown in the 170, 300 and 350 gram packages, with other new packaging as well. "We want to show that if the customers want a certain package, we can deliver. This adds a little bit of service to the whole chain," explains Koen Lauwerysen. Additionally, several new concepts have been thought out, "If there is demand, we can deliver," he doesn't give any more away, keeping it a bit mysterious. "But we will be happy to discuss it at the fair."
At Fruit Logisitca Den Berk Délice will be present from 9:00am until 6:00pm in the Veiling Hoogstraten stand, B-08 hall 6.2.
