Peter van Halder becomes: HAK Fresh

Fresh vegetable specialist Peter van Halder from Den Bosch, who has been part of HAK since 2017, will be serving his customers in the wholesale, out-of-home and retail channels under the name HAK Fresh as of 1 January 2020. The name change is a logical step in the implementation of HAK's mission and strategy and follows on from the significant investments in innovation, quality and concept development made at Peter van Halder over the past two years. It also expects that in addition to its existing market of professional wholesale consumption, using the HAK name, it will gain a faster foothold with freshly processed vegetable concepts in other channels and markets, including Germany and Belgium.

Since the takeover of Peter van Halder Grootverbruik BV by HAK, a lot has happened behind the scenes. In addition to a strategic reorientation in which HAK, from its second production site in Den Bosch, has increasingly focused on the production of vegetable ingredients with high added value in terms of convenience and taste experience, investments have also been made in new quality systems, among other things. Next year, the new high risk and high care production locations will be completed, making HAK Fresh ready for the future. In addition, investments have been made in extra production capacity and technology, personnel and renewal of the product range. 

With tailor-made vegetable concepts and solutions, HAK Fresh focuses on enriching meals (such as salads, pizzas and sandwiches) for a wide variety of customers. Arnoud van Os, director of HAK Fresh, explains: "Whereas in the past the main focus was on freshly cut vegetables, these are now enriched in taste and added value for our customers by means of techniques such as grilling, roasting, blanching, marinating and brining. Meat substitutes based on vegetable ingredients also belong to the specialisms of the new HAK Fresh. These ready-to-eat vegetables all have a high added value and we supply them not only to customers in the foodservice channel, but also to large retail chains. They are increasingly offering fresh ready-made preparations on the shop floor by blurring between the traditional supermarket and food service". 

For HAK CEO Timo Hoogeboom, rebranding is part of HAK's strategic mission to enrich the most commonly eaten meals, both at home and away from home, with vegetables and legumes in North-West Europe. "Peter van Halder's high-quality fresh vegetable concepts are a great addition to our existing range of vegetables and legumes in pots and pouches. The HAK brand stands for high quality and professionalism. With the name HAK Fresh we want to emphasize that we can offer the same quality and professionalism to wholesale, out-of-home and retail target groups through our company in Den Bosch, even with fresh concepts. That is why we will continue to invest in our production facility in Den Bosch in 2020 and - together with our vegetable innovators - develop healthy and tasty meal solutions with high quality vegetables and legumes."

Van Os: "So we are increasingly shifting to fresh products with a higher added value that are difficult for our customers on the shop floor and other suppliers to produce. But of course we will remain in the out of home and the food service channels will also continue to supply the freshly cut vegetables as we already did, but now including new opportunities and innovative concepts."

According to Van Os, the first reactions from the market to the new name are positive. "Our customers are well aware that the takeover by HAK has enabled us to take a significant professional step forward in a market that is growing very fast in all distribution channels and will grow even faster in the future.