Merick Schoute: 'It’s all about creating awareness'

At the end of our interview with Vakblad Voedingsindustrie, Merick Schoute from Holie’s humbly says they were ‘lucky to break through.’ But that couldn’t be further from the truth: a creative mindset, smart strategy, a strong drive to innovate, and a healthy dose of guts are what really fuel the cereal brand’s success.

Holie’s, the mission-driven cereal brand, has grown over six years into the second-largest cereal brand in the Netherlands, leaving number three far behind. Every year, ten million products (granola, crunchy muesli and bars) find their way to customers. Last year, the company achieved an exceptionally high B Corp score. So how did they manage that? And what’s next on the agenda?

A remarkable track record

We spoke with Merick and co-founder Valentijn van Santvoort (Merick calls him ‘Vaal’) about Holie’s origins and mission (making the Netherlands healthier with crunchy breakfast cereals with no added sugar) about a year and a half ago. The third co-founder, Marc Veltman, still plays a part in major innovation projects. Time for an update. Standing still clearly isn’t their style, as shown by their impressive achievements in just the past eighteen months. Holie’s launched a line of Crunchy Bars, kicked off the Sugar ABC campaign in response to healthwashing, and took its first steps onto the UK market. In the meantime, the team doubled in size and the brand boosted its B Corp score by 58%. Today, Holie’s ranks among the top 3% of B Corp-certified food brands globally. From their Amsterdam office, just around the corner from Dam Square, Merick talks about that achievement, the importance of innovation and creativity, and how smart stacking can make a big difference.

Your high B Corp score is partly thanks to your focus on people and company culture. What does your HR policy look like?

“B Corp aside, we’ve built a culture that’s very much our own. We regularly ask the team for input and define our core values together. We work hard and expect a lot in terms of output and commitment. But employees can buy into the company through our employee stock purchase plan. If you can’t share, you can’t grow - it may be a cliché, but that’s exactly how we experience it. And fun comes first. We offer free personal training and celebrate wins, big and small. We also go beyond legal obligations of employment. People here get unlimited vacation days, and we give new mothers an extra month of leave on top of what the law requires. As a father of three young kids, I know how intense that phase can be.”

You’ve also made serious progress on environmental impact. Tell us more!

“Yes, it all starts with knowing what your impact is. So we mapped the lifecycle of all our products and our office. That was quite an investment, but it gave us a lot of insight. For instance, we found out that one of our packages wasn’t fully recyclable yet. We fixed that. Another example: by stacking our granola bags more efficiently in the outer boxes, we managed to fit way more per box. That cut the number of outer boxes for granola in half - saving hundreds of truckloads each year.”

You produce through third parties in the Netherlands and Germany. Do you have influence over working conditions and environmental impact there?

“It wasn’t easy to get a clear picture of that. For the B Corp assessment, we had to dive deep into our supply chain and provide hard proof. But we also wanted to know the ins and outs ourselves. Now that we’ve grown, we can really push for change. One of our bakeries, for example, switched to green energy at our request. Per product, that may not make a big difference, but across the board, it adds up.”

You also launched eleven new products last year. Where does that hunger for innovation come from?

“Innovation is our superpower. I worked five years at Ahold before this, so I know how slow innovation can be in big organizations. We’re small and can move incredibly fast. I once brainstormed a product with a category manager at Jumbo during a meeting, and six months later it was on the shelf. And it’s still our best-seller there; the crunchy muesli protein chocolate. At a corporate, something like that takes at least a year and a half. And by the time they start copying us, we’re already three steps ahead.”

Still, it took two years to develop the bars. What was the big hurdle?

“That’s a technical story. Our bars are the first baked bars in the world with no added sugar. Sugar makes it easier to bake and cut bars into shape after baking. Ours have to come out of the oven already in final form. During development, the manufacturer asked us countless times if we could maybe add just a bit of sugar, or another sweetener. But we stood our ground. In the end, a new machine had to be built - at our own risk. The first bar came out just two weeks before the launch date.”

You’re clearly anti added sugar, as shown by your Sugar ABC campaign. What’s the goal?

“We launched the campaign last summer on our own social channels and those of the Diabetes Fund. It’s still available at suikerabc.nl and as a book. The Sugar ABC lists all the hidden names for added sugars, from agave syrup to blackstrap molasses. The idea is to help people recognize hidden sugars in breakfast cereals and other products, in a light-hearted way. It’s all about raising awareness.”

Are other cereal brands impressed?

Merick laughs. “Well, the category is definitely moving. That may not be just because of us, NutriScore probably plays a role too, but we’re now the number two cereal brand on the shelf. Still, other brands don’t really follow through; some lower sugar a bit or make a token effort with a few no-added-sugar products. They’re afraid to take a stand on health for fear of losing sales. That hurts their credibility. When we launched Holie’s, consumers understood our product right away. Plus, we also stand out with a cheerful, lighthearted brand identity. Healthy living can be fun too.”

Creativity is at the heart of your brand. Why is it so important?

“It’s how we stand out on the shelf. We don’t just differentiate on positioning - crunchy without sugar - but also on creativity. We break the rules on packaging with bold design and color, and that goes for our online campaigns too. All our communication is made in-house by our designers, art directors, videographers and other creatives. Everyone you see in our social posts is a colleague. That gives our brand a face, and it takes us places other brands can’t follow.”

Holie’s entered the UK last year, the birthplace of cereals. What was that like?

“It felt like a dream come true. And it’s going well. We started with online retailer Ocado, which gave us great access to data. We now have a local team and just opened our London office. In the Benelux too, we want to grow our distribution and brand recognition. There are more countries on the list, we’re in talks. And we’re developing new flavors and two new concepts. We’re keeping those under wraps for now, but they’ll stay close to home.”

NEW

Holie’s Sugar-Score exposes hidden sugars
June 25th Holie’s launched Sugar-Score: a tool offering clear insight into the sugar levels in popular breakfast and snack products.