Being distinctive on the mushroom market wasn’t easy in recent years. “White mushrooms didn’t change, and the blue punnet has also been the same for 30 years. That’s why packaging is the opportunity to be distinctive,” says Gert Kolkman from Kolkman Verpakkingen in Hedel, the Netherlands. “With the developments we’re working on, we can give customers an added value. Our aim is for customers to be able to distinguish for themselves. Not focus on as much volume as possible, because that will follow eventually.”
Point of departure for Kolkman Verpakkingen is that the customer is central, and that the cooperation should be open and honest. “The customers have to be able to distinguish for themselves. We might be a small player, but we are enormously flexible and we listen to the customer. Besides, we — with our capacity and our mould maker, among other things — have such a capacity as to serve both large and small companies.”
Kolkman can rightfully be called a family company. Founder Jan Kolkman retired two years ago, but sons Jan Junior, Nico and Gert by now take care of the planning and control department, the technical side and the commerce, respectively. On average, the company employs 24 people. “We supply our packaging throughout Europe, from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Lithuania, to Poland and Greece. Especially more distant countries have been emerging in recent years. We can also provide our customers with machines, although we don’t make these ourselves.”
For more information:
Gert Kolkoman
Kolkman Verpakkingen Hedel
Architronlaan 3
5321 JJ Hedel
Tel: +31 (0) 73 5992255
g.kolkman@kvh.nl
www.kvh.nl