Branding
Thimo Leukel, commercial director at De Groot Fresh Group:
“A recognizable trademark for products that guarantees good flavor and consumer experience was needed, outside of retail” we don't make any compromises,” Thimo explains.
“We've been working on this for more than a year but have taken several steps in recent months,” says Thimo Leukel, De Groot Fresh Group's commercial director. He is referring to this Dutch fruit and vegetable supplier's new B2B fruit and vegetable brand, Don Mario Eat Now. Building on the Don Mario house brand's foundation, it prioritizes flavor and experience.
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id the De Groot Fresh Group then offer its customers inferior quality products? “Not at all. We have Eat Now-worthy products under other labels, and we're always aware of flavor in all the trade we do with large retail clients. As much as 90% of our products are undoubtedly Eat Now-worthy. But, we noticed that, outside of retail, wholesale, food service, and international traders needed a trusted product under a recognizable brand. So, we created a brand for several products, both fruits, and vegetables, combining the words 'Eat Now' and our house brand, Don Mario.”
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AGF Primeur • Special Edition • 2022
FLAVOR AND EXPERIENCE This combination means the products are not selected using the typical fruit and vegetable trade parameters of external quality characteristics, specifications, availability, market demand, and price. But purely on flavor and the moment of experience. “For example, because of price and market demand, you can begin supplying oranges at the start of the season. But they're actually not quite up to scratch yet. So, you could say, in this new brand, we're a bit less of a trader. Also, when the quality isn't as good as it should be in the mid or late season, we drop out for a while. Where many other brands just keep going,
NICE FRUIT AND VEGETABLE RANGE The De Groot Fresh Group now has several products available under the label: bananas, oranges, mandarins, grapes, melons, avocados, limes, lemons, grapefruit, a range of tomatoes, bell peppers, and Dutch cherries. With consumers in mind, the company selects only high-quality, tasty products for its new B2B brand. They want to give people a memorable consumer experience. “We began the brand with bananas and avocado. With these, it's obviously about ripeness. Lemons and limes are perhaps more difficult to distinguish, taste-wise, but our lemons are seedless, and the limes are very aromatic. Our oranges come from Spain and overseas; we get mandarins from South Africa, and this winter, for the first time, also from Spain.”
The company has also been supplying some fruit-vegetables for about a year. “We source delicious Cuisinesse vine tomatoes from several Hoogstraten growers. But we also have cherry plum tomatoes and a cherry plum mix. And the assortment already includes red, yellow, and green bell peppers, where the focus is on both flavor and color. The pricing is in line with the market,” says Thimo.
CULTIVATION PARTNERS ARE CRUCIAL To ensure quality and continuity, the De Groot Fresh Group has long-term relations with reliable partners. “Our cultivation