Hospitality is the norm at Bresc

In the past, if the business outgrew the size of an existing location, chilled food specialist Bresc simply rented an extra site. A new facility is now being built for the company which brings the trial kitchen – the culinary heart of the business – under one roof with the offices, logistics and production activities. 

“Our starting point is the use of fresh garlic and herbs in the kitchens of good restaurants. We offer the best alternative for fresh. That high quality forms the foundation for all our convenience products,” says Gertjan van der Wouden, who originally started out as a chef. He has been specialised in product development for the past 30 years, and he joined Bresc as Research & Development Manager some 15 years ago. The producer is focused on the hospitality market, where it relieves professional chefs of some of the burden of preparation work. In the food processing industry, the company’s chilled products are used as ingredients in finished products for the retail or foodservice market. Bresc was founded in 1991 as a snail farm. Since 2005 it has been focused on chilled garlic and herb products only. The company carries ten to 15 different garlic-related products, as well as various types of curry pastes, pestos, tapenades and marinades. 

A single site

Arjan Hak, Managing Director of Bresc: “We currently have four sites. In the past, if we outgrew the size of one site we simply rented an extra one – until we realised that the only way for us to achieve further growth was to relocate to a single site. Our other criteria were: to stay in the same region because of our employees who live nearby, and – in line with our values – togetherness, hospitality, honesty and curiosity.” Van der Wouden: “In the new facility we can let our customers experience our products and the gastronomy. I work in the trial kitchen along with four chefs to develop new formulations, often at the customer’s request. It’s the culinary heart of our company.”

Construction company

Bresc chose the Dutch construction company Aan de Stegge Twello to build the new facility. Hak: “We wanted a construction firm with experience in food and with good references. We visited a number of their projects and we made the final decision this spring. They are strong in providing advice in terms of scope, time and money: what will you get, when, and how much will it cost? They took a tremendous weight off our shoulders and continuously made it clear to us which (financial) consequences a particular decision would have. Plus they are solution-oriented and proactive. For example, their advice helped us to save valuable square metres by including in the drawings some office space above the production area. Meanwhile, the design still retains its uniqueness thanks to the striking foyer in the office section, which is at the front of the building.”

Together

The status in autumn 2017 is as follows: the drawings have been completed, the land has been purchased and the permit has been applied for. Aan de Stegge Twello will start the building work in early 2018 and it will be finished by September 2018. Hak: “That’s quick, but we’ve already decided on lots of the details.” Van der Wouden concludes: “Before long we will have a new facility which meets modern-day requirements but also a building that exudes hospitality. Besides that, a single site increases the logistics efficiency and is hence better for the environment. But best of all it means that all our employees will soon be working together under one roof. For me, that ranks in positions 1, 2 and 3!”

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The Aan de Stegge Twello approach
“A building for the food processing industry nearly always has the most complex systems,” comments Bas te Riele, Commercial Project Manager at Aan de Stegge Twello. “They also account for 30 to 40 percent of the total construction costs, depending on the type of user and their wants and needs. That’s why we always advise customers to start with the Programme of Requirements for the systems when making the initial technical drawings. Within our construction team, we worked with electrical, mechanical engineering and refrigeration & freezing specialists for that purpose.”

During the engineering project the construction team – including the systems specialists and representatives from both Bresc and Aan de Stegge Twello – met every two weeks to discuss the electrics, mechanical engineering, refrigeration and freezing systems, frameworks, fire-safety and environmental aspects, architecture and the interior. The building company immediately calculated the financial implications to ensure continuous process management. Te Riele: “Building companies have still got a reputation for confronting you with extra costs during the construction process. This is due to a lack of careful thought beforehand. We try to get clarity on all the wants, needs and expectations in advance. Will they lead to extra costs, or will they actually make things cheaper? We present investment outlines based on more and fewer options during the initial discussions. This makes it clear to our customers that their choices have a financial impact – so there are no surprises later on.”

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