New concept MAMA's Meals

After almost a year of preparation, the new 'Mama's Meals' went live this spring. Since then, the ultra-fresh ready meals have been on sale throughout the country. Estrategy built the webshop.

Mama's Meals originated in Serdar Tolenaar's PLUS supermarket in Hillegom. "I sometimes worked overtime, and would heat up a ready-made meal. So from experience I knew that in that particular sector there is room for more taste and better quality." When he renovated the shop, he decided to expand the kitchen, hire cooks and start selling ready meals. It soon became clear that surrounding supermarkets from SPAR, Coop and PLUS were interested in selling them as well. Rick Hageman, owner of three Spar supermarkets in North Holland, had been looking for high quality meals for years. He tasted the meals from Hillegom, was immediately convinced and persuaded Serdar of the need to hire an extra cook in order to be able to deliver to colleagues. This is how the meals arrived on the shelves of ten supermarkets in the Hillegom region.

'We stand for quality and authentic flavors'

Without fuss

"It went like clockwork", says Serdar proudly. Food entrepreneur Henk Brussaard noticed that. Almost every supermarket told him that this segment was not yet covered, but that there was a great need for it. "He called me to ask whether we could not launch it together on a national scale. We drew up a plan, came up with a name and found a production partner. Mama's Meals was born! 

Rick: "'Mama', because mama radiates warmth and is recognisable: 'Mama is sweet and cooks deliciously!' We make recognisable dishes, without fuss, but with the taste and structure as you remember it from home." 

A face of its own

There are now about twenty variants, from Surinamese, Indian and Italian to Dutch stew. Each country has its own 'Mama', with its own face. There is a Surinamese Mama for roti, an Indonesian Mama for Indonesian noodles and fried rice, and a Dutch Mama for stews. "We included the Mamas in the development of the meals," says Serdar. "They also tasted the meals. We made adjustments based on their feedback. We stand for quality and authentic flavours."

Easy ordering

According to the owners, quality should start with the ordering process. That, too, should be easy and hassle-free. "Online retail is on the rise, so a good webshop is important. We wanted a simple and fast system for our customers, the producer and our distributor," says Rick. "A webshop where you can easily enter the quantities and order the meals of your choice with one press of a button. We found Estrategy via Google. It felt right from the start. They have a lot of experience and were able to translate all our wishes into an attractive customer portal. It now also includes an ordering system that automatically generates the orders."

The customer portal has now been implemented and is running to full satisfaction. Serdar: "Together with Estrategy, we are now in the process of linking the system to our accounting system and integrating it with retail customers via EDI. The meals are ordered four times a week. It goes very smoothly." 

Possibilities customer portal

• Customer Login
• Customer accounts
• Direct ordering
• Order lists
• Price lists
• Discount tables
• Stock control
• Order History
• Product Information
• Returns processing
• Document management
• Tracking and tracing
• Notifications
• Reminders
• Reports
• EDI connection
• ERP integration

Estrategy delivers innovative and user-friendly custom-made web and software solutions. A multidisciplinary team ensures lightning-fast switching and seamless integration into the business operations.

www.mamasmaaltijden.nl
www.estrategy.nl

Photo: Rick Hageman, Serdar Tolenaar and Henk Brussaard from left to right