1 Year Harvest House – Snijpunt

It was official on May 3, 2018. Snijpunt has become part of Harvest House. One year later we look back at this first year with Marco.

As we are used to, Marco comes right to the point. “The biggest noticeable advantage so far is the daily supply of raw materials being easier through open communication with other members of the group. Where previously you did not always hear the whole story because of business interests. You now have a common interest and therefore more openness. This gives us even more insight into the quality, available quantities and costs. And, therefore, a chance to be able to do even more for our customers.”

The participation in the MT consultations of Harvest House has given new insights as well. “After having operated independently for over 20 years, participation in an MT consultation being held by the various Harvest House sales organizations - being TNI, Global Green Team, Food Fellows and Rainbow International - proved to be very interesting. On the positive side, the companies enjoy a great deal of freedom on a tactical and strategic level. We notice however that this means that mutual information provision and cooperation are mainly limited to the supporting processes.”

Focus on merging systems

The first year mainly focused on merging the IT systems and programs that are used. “Because Snijpunt is a new kind of company in the field of Harvest House, it was searching for the right way. The spearheads of a production company are different from those of a trading company or logistics company. We now found the right method and it is running well.”

Dutch quality in winter

Our goal to be able to deliver more products of Dutch quality in the winter has certainly been achieved. “As we can communicate more openly and honestly with the growers, we have a better view on the possibilities and costs to continue to deliver the best quality.

As an example; we normally get bell peppers from Spain in the spring. In the Netherlands, there is still not enough production to guarantee raw materials of the right quality and deliverability. Enough quantities are available in Spain in terms of numbers. But the shelf life of these raw materials is significantly shorter than the Dutch quality.
From Tunisia, it is possible to guarantee that Dutch quality and consistent deliverability though. For one of our largest customers of 30-30 cubes, we have been buying in Tunisia for years at one of the Harvest House growers. Because we are now even more directly connected to this grower, we can discuss the options and costs in advance. Clearly raw materials from Tunisia are slightly more expensive than those from Spain, but you also get a much better product in return. Even in a period in which Dutch raw materials are too expensive and not sufficiently available. A second advantage is that it is possible to switch to Dutch raw materials during the season because the quality is the same.
Together with the grower, we are now investigating whether the cultivation of bell pepper in Tunisia can be scaled up and expanded. Because quality and availability are now a chain discussion, it is easier to discuss. Always to serve our customers even better and to provide them with the best price-quality ratio.”

The goal of offering more of the other Harvest House products in addition to bell peppers has not been achieved yet. “Our customers use large volumes of cucumber and tomatoes in addition to bell peppers. These raw materials are sold in advance and via retail programs. Although we are not a trading company, it would of course be desirable to use our current customers' and logistics' network to get these products directly from the source at the vegetable cutting company. As soon as there is more clarity about possible options, we will of course let you know!”

Summer of 2018

In fairness, we have to say that the summer of 2018 has been thát busy that we have not been able to address all plans we had. Supplying customers and their growing numbers and wishes had our highest priority. "The Hospitality - or Out of Home sector - in Europe will increasingly use fresh convenience vegetables. We have noticed this last summer particularly. Even in Germany, this change is clearly visible, whilst actually being a market that processes its own fresh vegetables. Our customers do more across the board. But of course, the hectic summer period is also due to the extreme heat. We do not expect to experience such strong growth in 2019 again. If we can maintain the level of 2018 that would already be perfect! Although growth is of course always a possibility that we are open to. "

Fewer food wastes

To give our residual products a second life we have entered into a partnership with Harvest House subsidiary Food Fellows. They use our residual products in completely new concepts. We are in full development with this and really nice things are coming up. Keep an eye on our site and that of Food Fellows!

Still autonomous

Fortunately, after a year, we can still say that we are an autonomously operating organization. We certainly consult with Harvest House when it comes to the larger decisions, but our mission is still unchanged.
We did, however, write an OGSM (Objectives, Goals, Strategies, Measures) together with Harvest House. “I really enjoyed doing this with another view. As a result, you still get new insights. Especially because they come from a related but clearly different perspective. "

How are Marco and Bjørn doing now?

“Personally, I have noticed that I feel calmer because I have been able to transfer several responsibilities. Not much has changed for me as I am still operational at Snijpunt every day of course.”

Bjørn has continued his technical activities. In his time at Snijpunt he was also busy with the (further) development of the machines. His technical expertise is still very useful to have around and is still regularly deployed.

Marco says laughing: “As always, a message goes to Bjorn if a machine does not function optimally. Because this has always been his responsibility, it is often done with a joke. ‘You did not transfer your work well Bjørn. Come and have a look.’ This always works well with Bjørn."

But seriously, the machine we use to make bell pepper cubes for shashliks, for example, was developed by Bjørn at the time. Now he wants to further optimize 'his' machine. We are very happy with that because it has resulted in even better-quality cubes and a better return.

“Altogether we look back on a positive first year under the flag of Harvest House. As far as we are concerned, the synergy between the partners is high on the agenda for the next year.”