Greenyard has today (7 December) announced its Strategy 2030, including a first outlook on the value this will bring to the company and its stakeholders.
Based on the foundation of being a plant-based company on the one hand, and a 'well substantiated Vision on the Future of Food' on the other, Greenyard said it had made it a clear goal to become a 'plant-based powerhouse' and deliver on a set of steep ambitions for 2025.
The group pointed out that consumers were increasingly searching for healthier, low-processed food; in particular plant-based products, while at the same time not being willing to sacrifice convenience and preparation time.
Plant-based plans
'Greenyard is already one of the largest purely plant-based companies in the world, delivering close-to-crop and convenient products to its customers, fully in line with current consumer trends,' it stated. 'As a leader within the transition we witness today, Greenyard is committed to continue investing in convenience, and to accelerate the further widening of its plant-based portfolio.
This acceleration will be enabled by a continued step-up in digitalisation across the group, Greenyard noted, allowing it to respond to current and future consumer needs, while also directly contributing to a more sustainable food value chain.
“More and more, people recognise the power and the importance of a healthy, plant-based diet, for our health and for the planet,' confirmed Hein Deprez, co-CEO. 'Close-to-crop food offerings are the cornerstone of our collective future. And with Greenyard, we have delivered this from the start, it is in our DNA.
'Today, we are a global leader in this field,' Deprez continued. 'We have a unique capability, through our scale and through our integrated relations with customers and growers, to capture a vital part of this fast-growing market. We are plant-based, by nature. It gives us a head-start and a competitive advantage.
'Now, as a next step we will push through in what is clearly the right direction. We will step-up our investments in innovation and technology, leveraging the data in the value chain to provide even better products and services to our customers and consumers.”
Co-CEO Marc Zwaaneveld said that Greenyard had delivered what it had promised ahead of schedule, with performance improving 'significantly' with stability and strength being demonstrated.
'The Strategy 2030 we announce today, is the next big step,' he said. 'We look ahead and will reconnect with growth. Greenyard is plant-based at its core and has already more than 1,000 plant-based convenience products in its portfolio. Plant-based is what we do.
'We are at the heart of change and will accelerate our activities in these products, supported by ongoing digitalisation and strong sustainability ambitions,' Zwaaneveld continued. 'We strongly believe these will be the drivers for a higher growth rate in sales and profitability, complemented by targeted M&A or cooperation – creating additional upsides to our plans.'
Three-staged approach
Greenyard’s Strategy 2030 is built on three stages, each of them described as 'equally important to reach the ambition' – 'improve', 'increase' and 'imagine'.
The company explained that the three levels of the strategy would partially run in parallel, reinforce each other over time and fuel the step-up throughout the roll-out of the plan.
Greenyard said it would focus on further deepening its integrated relationships with existing and new customers, while at the same time continuing to increasingly develop its grower relationships.
Further operational productivity measures and synergies will be deployed, and the group will continue to focus on its sustainability ambitions.
Furthermore, and starting immediately, Greenyard said it would step-up its convenience product offering, leveraging the window of opportunity for low-processed healthy convenience products, tapping into consumer demand.
'The Greenyard Strategy 2030 is driven by and will directly contribute to the company’s purpose,' it concluded. 'Greenyard acts as a true connector in the chain, with a clear focus on plant-based convenience, and the unique proposition of close-to-crop products.
'The company is keen on improving lives through plant-based offerings and by connecting healthy lifestyles to sustainable food supply chains,' the group noted. 'This is an ambition the company will fulfil through close collaboration with its partners in the chain.
'Building on decades of experience, a strong grower network and specific processing capabilities, Greenyard is confident to be in a position to capture a material part of the huge plant-based market in the coming years, by focusing on the right segments, added-value products and services – acting as a plant-based powerhouse.'
