"Simple ready-made salads meet a demand"

Convenience products are becoming increasingly popular and terms such as convenience, on-the-go, ready-to-eat, and instant have become commonplace. The fruit and vegetable sector jumped on that bandwagon, too. Heemskerk Fresh & Easy, one of the largest vegetable processing companies in the Netherlands, specializes in this. Its innovation department keeps a constant finger on the pulse, and the company regularly develops new products that meet current needs. This summer, simpler meal salads will be rolling off their production line. Xandra Plug and Simon Kloos explain why.

"Our shopper survey shows that ready-made salads are under pressure," begins Xandra, Heemskerk's Marketing Manager." That's not so much due to competition from fresh produce or ready-made meals - a completely different convenience sector category - but mainly because of high prices and changing consumer behavior. Also, although people are once again somewhat more positive about their financial expectations, they're very price-conscious. Price is the deciding factor, and there's a greater preference for discounters."

Basic salad
The team, thus, set out to see where the need lies. "Simpler, cheaper salads could be the answer. So, for this summer, we've developed basic 250 g salads consisting of iceberg lettuce and two vegetable toppings: tomato and cucumber. No croutons or pasta, just a sachet of dressing. It costs about €2 in stores and is nothing but a tasty salad. You can have it for lunch or add chicken, croutons, or cheese for dinner at home. People sometimes like adding their own personal touch," says Xander.

This basic salad is not the only new addition to Heemskerk's retail range. "There's also 'easy wok', which stems from another trend: People want to cook tasty, healthy meals quickly. Nowadays, people would rather not spend more than 20 minutes in the kitchen. That wasn't the case at the turn of this century. Besides vegetables, this meal contains chicken, carbohydrates, and sauce. You put everything in a wok, and six minutes later, it's ready to eat."

"Because it's even more convenient, this concept will probably compete with stir-fry vegetables in stores. But also, especially with ready-made meals because this stir-fry convenience offers a complete meal solution. It appeals to consumers who want healthy, tasty food but want to do something themselves. People experience putting a ready-made meal in the microwave as something they have less influence on and is, thus, less healthy," Xandra explains.

Inspiration, renewal, and something new
Yet, according to Product Development Manager Simon Kloos, fresh packs are Heemskerk's most innovative product group. "We introduce new concepts to this product group five times throughout the year. That's more than twice as often as the other categories. The underlying idea is that you must challenge shoppers by offering innovation in meal options. There are more and more world dishes appearing, most of which you get by adding the right combination of spices," he says.

Xandra adds that recent research revealed that four percent of households buy meal boxes, while 50% buy meal and soup fresh packs. "These are in traditional flavors, but you shouldn't underestimate the search for inspiration, innovation, and something new. You can now buy such fresh packs at almost every Dutch supermarket. Pre-cut fresh food packages are on the rise, too, but these are for smaller households and are slightly pricier. They are slightly more convenient, though."

Healthier eating
These days, convenience, says Xandra, is the best way to get people to eat more fruit and vegetables. "You can enjoy a ready-made salad or our wok concept that contains the minimum recommended daily amount of 250 g of vegetables. It seems many people don't reach that portion every day. We, therefore, want to inspire consumers and make it easier for them. For some, that will be a bag of lettuce; for others, a tasty soup. We try to map out those needs and respond to them," he explains.

Foodservice and food industry
Besides the retail sector, Heemskerk increasingly supplies pre-cut products to the food service (restaurant chains and QSR) and the food industry. The company always focused on the Netherlands, but it now wants to introduce its processed vegetables to other markets, such as Scandinavia and the DACH countries. "It's becoming harder for companies to hire people, and labor costs have risen sharply. Supplying the food service and food industry with pre-cut fruit and vegetables is part of the solution. The food industry, especially, seems to be looking for larger manufacturers because, at a certain point, small processing plants can no longer handle the enormous volumes needed," Simon explains.

Vegetable specialist
Heemskerk does not process the cut fruit it supplies to customers. "Until recently, we did that, but since last summer, we've strategically partnered with Fruity Pack. Each company has its specialty; ours is vegetables, salads, and fresh produce packs. Last year, we also began working with Bio Brass for organic beets. It's always challenging for us to process organic produce. That, along with the previously difficult availability, is why our organic range is smaller. Nevertheless, we're looking into the possibilities. We did a little kale and pumpkin in the winter, and we want to expand that segment further next winter."

"Robots don't get sick"
In addition to roughly 1,100 workers on the floor, robotization and automation are important priorities for Heemskerk. "Efficiency is high on our wish list. In the last few years, we've robotized a lot to be less dependent on people, particularly in order picking. Automation has taken over 30 people's work per shift. The robots work 24/7 and never get sick. All they need is a little maintenance now and then," Simon points out.

Their iceberg lettuce processing has also recently been automated. "Instead of ten people on the assembly line, a single robot now de-cores and halves that product. But, there are production lines where most of the work is still done by hand. It's not profitable to do everything by machine, especially for small batches. As we expand to other countries, some of the manual work can be automated, although Scandinavia has its own preferences and products. You can't simply export everything we have in the Netherlands to Germany or Scandinavia. Sometimes you have to provide customization."

Spain as a supplier
Heemskerk tries to source as much as possible from local growers. However, buying from Spain and other countries is unavoidable, given the seasons and the weekly volume of 3.3 million units of processed vegetables, lettuce, fresh packs, and ready-made salads. "You can only achieve supply security through good distribution, especially with climate change. We sign contracts with growers in different areas. That applies to Spain, too, where we don't focus on one province. Half of our purchasing department spent almost the entire January in Spain. Instead of buying from here, they directly contacted growers while also finding new sourcing areas and partners. Heemskerk certainly isn't resting on its laurels," Simon concludes.

This article was previously published in Primeur May 2025. Click here for the link to the entire edition

For more information:
Heemskerk fresh & easy
Tel: +31 71 402 13 38
info@wheemskerk.nl
www.heemskerkfresh.com