Greenyard-owned group expands with a state-of-the-art centre in Ridderkerk, including the ”largest ripening centre in Europe”
Bakker Barendrecht has started construction on a new centre for fresh fruit and vegetables in Ridderkerk, The Netherlands.
According to the Greenyard company, the state-of-the-art building will apply the latest technological innovations for fresh fruit and vegetables in warehousing, packing and ripening.
This will include the use of mechanisation in warehousing and meal-kit production, and renewed production lines for specialist fruit categories such as grapes, citrus and soft fruit.
The site will also have the largest ripening centre in Europe, the group noted, with more than 150 ripening cells.
”This puts Bakker, as a food and tech company, at the forefront of product specialisation and process innovation,” Bakker Barendrecht stated. “Supplying the best quality tasty and healthy fruit and vegetables to its strategic partners Albert Heijn, Delhaize, Albert and Koninklijke Vezet.”
Located next to the existing Laurierweg site, the centre will cover an area of no less than 55,600m2, and will be occupied in phases from mid-2026.
“Bakker Barendrecht has been working closely with Albert Heijn as a strategic partner for 65 years,” said Maarten van Hamburg, managing director Bakker division.
”Bakker also has a long-standing strategic partnership with Delhaize in Belgium and Albert in the Czech Republic.
”Through these long-term partnerships with our customers and our growers, we deliver the best quality fresh fruit and vegetables to more than 10mn consumers every day,” he outlined.
”With the construction of the new fresh food centre at Dutch Fresh Port in Ridderkerk, we are investing in innovation, quality, sustainability and efficiency, and can respond even better to the growing demand for tasty and healthy fruit and vegetables.
“In this way, together we are making an impact on tomorrow’s food,” van Hamburg added.
