Eijo Nienhuis retired from his job as import director of The Greenery/Hagé International on 27 August, bringing to an end a distinguished career spanning almost five decades and almost exclusively in the fresh produce business. Leaving the directorship in Eric Lagerweij’s capable hands, Mr Nienhuis took time during his final week at the company to speak exclusively to Eurofruit Magazine about his time working in the trade.
Mr Nienhuis began his career 44 years ago. The son of a confectioner, a year’s work experience taught him he had no desire to follow in his father’s footsteps. So he started in sales at Van Dijk Citrus BV, a subsidiary that year by Van Dijk Delft, which at the time was already the leading exporter of Dutch fruits and vegetables. Mainly an importer of citrus fruit at the outset, as well as Canary Islands tomatoes and cucumbers, Van Dijk had already targeted closer links with the emerging European retail trade and, to that end, was expanding its business to other categories to attract more retail customers. Mr Nienhuis excelled when it came to vegetable imports, a new product area for the group, and his first big job was managing those Canary Islands products. 'The Canaries was big business in those days,' he tells Eurofruit Magazine. Unfortunately, heavy competition from places like Morocco meant the business eventually declined.
As the vegetable import business developed on the back of increasing demand during the off-season, and led by customers like German retailers Horten, Karstadt, Allkauf, Latscha and Schade, other products and countries of origin were soon added to Van Dijk’s range and Mr Neinhuis was promoted to head of vegetable sales. 'Retail was becoming the most important market, so we focused on it more and more,' he explains. 'All of the retailers were looking for better ways to source fresh produce and in fact the cooperation between retail customers and suppliers was very close, much more so than today.' Van Dijk started to prepack items and had plenty of help from the retailers. 'They were the ones investing in the materials, something you couldn’t imagine today,' he says.
In 1984, Mr Nienhuis and the import department of Van Dijk International moved to Delft. He continued to help expand Van Dijk’s fresh produce import activities, with southern Europe becoming an important source. Mr Nienhuis was called on to oversee activities in the region, directing his efforts towards the development of the company’s procurement from Almeria in Spain.
It was around this time also that Van Dijk Delft began importing fruit. To that end, finding new sources of supply in the Southern Hemisphere, specifically South America, South Africa and New Zealand, was imperative, and Mr Nienhuis led the way on Van Dijk’s behalf, building the business step by step as he sailed into uncharted territory.
'Suddenly we were working with some of the big brand names in fresh produce, like Zespri, Enza, Cape and Outspan,' he remembers. Even now, travelling to faraway places in the Southern Hemisphere remains a must, suggests Mr Nienhuis: 'I think it’s still very important to have that personal contact with your suppliers. When it comes to ensuring systems are in place to regulate things like pesticide residues, or sustainability, or social responsibility, it’s still really important.'
At that time, an office in Chile was established, providing Van Dijk with a direct link to suppliers of products like grapes, kiwifruit, apples and pears.According to colleagues, one of Mr Nienhuis’ strengths was his ability to build lasting relationships with the growers, a skill valued not only by his employer but also its customers.
Brazil followed, with Mr Neinhuis making frequent trips to see growers of items such as melons, mangoes, apples and grapes. Such products were not without their challenges, Mr Nienhuis recalls. Initially, Brazilian growers only grew the Yellow Honeydew variety, but through a mixture of gentle encouragement and firm insistence, Mr Nienhuis managed to convince them to invest in other varieties like Galia. For several years. Van Dijk also marketed bananas from Banacol Colombia, before it was taken over by Del Monte.
In today’s European market, the stunning growth rates of the 1970s and 1980s are gone, leaving importers like Hagé faced with the even greater challenge of securing existing trade and creating additional value for customers and consumers. Mr Nienhuis feels it’s important to make consumers aware of things like sustainability and to focus even more on eating quality than appearance.
'A lot of effort has been made in the past couple of decades to improve the appearance of products like peaches, nectarines and melons, but the eating quality often continues to disappoint,' he notes. 'We have to educate consumers about when products are ripe and ready to eat, but we also have to ensure the quality is there. If we do that, people will come back and eat more.'
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