On Thursday 24 and Friday 25 October, BelOrta organised its biennial Product Show. With the event, the cooperative aims to give (wholesale) traders and retailers an insight into the range of fruit and vegetables it has to offer. "In Europe, we are one of the suppliers with the widest range of fruit and vegetables, which we wanted to exhibit here. It is a kind of theme park for the buyer, so we are therefore pleased with the turnout from different countries," says Glenn Sebregts of BelOrta.
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"You should see it as a mix between a car show, with finished products, and a test lab," Glenn explains. Indeed, for the occasion, the cooperative had laid out a walking route through its shed, with visitors passing by the more than 200 products, from fruit crops to leafy and outdoor crops, to hard-and-stone fruits, both conventional and organic, while walking. These therefore consisted of a mix of the perennial favorites on the fruit and vegetable shelf, but also numerous novelties in the BelOrta range. "In this way, we also want to see what there is potential for and what there is not. A scan code was placed at the various tastings so that our customers could fill it in. Then we examine in which product we put how many eggs in the basket and which products remain relatively niche."
A look at the novelties
Eye-catchers included samphire, premium Aromia tomatoes, and, in the organic segment, Tatayoyo peppers, which are likely to be introduced into BelOrta's range next year. Also on display was its novelty pink celery, which was sold for the first time on Friday. "This is still in very limited supply though," Glenn said. "This is how we try to introduce new products every time. This can go through different avenues. On the one hand, our team goes to trade fairs looking for innovations, which could be interesting, but on the other hand, growers come to us with a product they have tried once. Of course, we welcome this, because this way we can then see whether it also catches on and whether there is interest from our customers. In this way, several products have already made a successful path to the supermarket shelf and who knows, maybe the novelties we are showing at this edition of the Product Show will go in the same direction in the future."
Kris Jans, Philippe Appeltans and Sabine Devreese from BelOrta
Ease of use with chicory
The path led from the tomato range, past greenhouse vegetables, and field vegetables, to top fruit and soft fruit. Thus, each segment had its full range of products in the spotlight. "Of course, we have everything displayed here, but if you look at the vegetables, for example, our back from the road microwaveable chicory steamy's immediately stands out. Chicory could use a push in terms of consumption frequency. That is why we wanted to take that extra step in convenience with this new packaging. All you have to do is put these briefly in the microwave. Add herbs or sauce and you have a delicious meal."
"When looking at the other products segment, our wide range of herbs stands out, as well as more than 10 varieties of sprouts, which we have been offering since last year," he continues. "Furthermore, within the pumpkin range, the green Hokkaido is in the spotlight. This is the same inside as the normal Hokkaido, but has a nice green skin. Furthermore, the season of this ends later, which would allow growers to extend the season towards spring. It is a wish of many to be able to continue with it for longer. Especially now that the pumpkin season always starts a little earlier and in this way, we want to provide for that."
The different segments displayed
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Differentiation throughout the year
"In fruit, too, we have several novelties on display," adds Kris Jans, BelOrta's fruit division manager. "For example, we presented our apple boxes for retail. This year, we have remarkably large sizes of apples, which means that with a Kanzi®, but also Jonagoldbox, we want to give consumers the chance to take a single apple with them. It is extraordinary to see how well this is being used. We also have our colorful range of club varieties. Thus, we are increasingly looking at new packaging and varieties to be able to offer fruit of different price ranges all year round. The market demands this differentiation."
"Within the hard fruit segment, we also have our children's packaging in addition," Kris continues. "You see that children don't always eat healthily. With the Appelsintjes, we already tried to entice them to consume more fruit and that caught on." Glenn adds: "As a result, we also recently started a Smurf pack. We first offered these in October in a test case month. This went smoothly, with nice sales figures for the apples in particular, so next year we want to see if we can extend it even wider in terms of period."
Among others, the Applesintjes and Smurfs packaging were showcased
New varieties in soft fruit
The innovations in the stone and soft fruit segment at the cooperative are particularly marked by new varieties. "For example, in strawberries, we are seeing a shift from June bearers to everbearers to achieve a more constant supply pattern," Kris continues. "In blackberries, Loch Ness has always been our main variety, with about 90 percent of the volume. Meanwhile, that has dropped to 50 percent and the rest is divided between different varieties. We also expect a lot from the new variety of Bestum, which is even sweeter. Finally, we are also working on new varieties of blueberries. Duke is and remains, our main variety, but in the meantime we are firmly innovating to find varieties that perform even better towards the customer."
Also in the spotlight were BelOrta's BelOmelon and BelOplum. "These are of course projects we are proud of. We started this to offer consistent quality with different growers for a longer period and we get very positive feedback on this. It's a kind of diversification that we want to go into. That is also our strategy to give growers more choice in what they grow so that they don't just bet on one particular variety because that brings possible risks. We offer a complete range, where a grower can choose his combination and roll out work planning ideally so that he can put his workers to work all year long."
Satisfied with feedback
"Looking back, we are very satisfied with how the days went," said Glenn. "We welcomed a lot of people from Belgium, but also from surrounding countries. In addition, it was also very nice that we were able to gather feedback from so many colleagues about our product range for today and tomorrow."
"We are strongly committed to innovation to continuously improve our product range and tailor it to consumers' needs," concludes Jo Lambrecht, Sales & Marketing Manager at BelOrta. "The Product Show is an ideal opportunity for us to explore along with our customers the latest market trends and discuss how we can respond to them. We continue to look for ways to innovate, both at the product level and in packaging solutions, so that we can always respond to the evolving market."
Photo BelOrta: The young growers enjoyed snacks and drinks
Futuro
On Thursday evening, some 50 young BelOrta growers were additionally welcomed at Futuro, its semi-annual event aimed at inspiration and future-oriented collaboration. "They were given insights into the next steps we will take with BelOrta in terms of marketing, focusing on new strategies that will put BelOrta even further on the map and strengthen the brand. After this session, we moved on to the Product Show, where growers had the opportunity to explore our full range in detail."
Meanwhile, BelOrta was named an SDG Ambassador by UNITAR/Cifal Flanders during Voka's Sustainable Business Day on 24 October 2024. "This is a very nice recognition of our cooperative organization for the efforts we have made in recent years. We are therefore very happy with this ultimate crowning of our work on sustainability. We have already come a long way in making BelOrta more sustainable. In the coming years, we will continue to take additional steps internally so that we can proudly promote the title SDG ambassador," sustainability coordinator Wim Hubrechts told us.
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For more information:
Glenn Sebregts
BelOrta
Mechelsesteenweg 120
B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)15 55 11 11
[email protected]
www.belorta.be