Van der Zee packs with Proseal flatskin

Artisan butcher Van der Zee in Twello has, since May 2023, a space of 8,600 m2 to process, package, and distribute meat. Van der Zee plant manager Willy Grooters: "The new flatskin packaging is a business card of the quality we deliver."

"The result is beautiful, and our products are just as long-lasting."

It's the art to lay a meticulously cut piece of meat neatly on the beautiful, thin, and wafer-thin laminated card. Cardboard and plastic can be separated in one movement for recycling. But now the 'little tray' first goes through the Proseal flatskin packaging machine of Sismatec, which pulls a thin, firm layer of film tightly over the meat. Soon, this sirloin steak from Van der Zee in Twello will go to one of the nineteen HANOS locations.

Hefty set of requirements

Jasper Slaghekke, account manager of Sismatec, watches critically how the packaging process progresses and if the result meets the customer's wish. It does. This flatskin is a big step; from sturdy three-layer skin packaging to the sustainable version with a chic appearance, say Willy Grooters, Nico Slinkman, and Jeanine Hiemstra all working at Van der Zee. Willy is the plant manager in Twello, Nico is responsible for all technology within the company, and Jeanine is the manager of marketing & innovation. Willy: "We continuously look at the balance between taste experience, food safety, shelf life, sustainability, presentation, and price. Packaging plays a big role in this. The whole must also be flexible and efficient. That's a hefty set of requirements that we gladly entrusted to Sismatec. We have been working together for many years. The result is beautiful, saves a lot of waste, and our products are equally long-lasting."

From left to right Willy Grooters, Nico Slinkman and Jasper Slaghekke

Enourmous renovation

The company is almost a hundred years old, Jeanine says. "By now, HANOS is our parent company, with a Van der Zee butcher shop in every location. From the request of care institutions to deliver a total package, Distrivers was created in 2000." Van der Zee has production locations in Hoogeveen, Emmen, and Twello. Willy: "When I started here ten years ago, we had 2,400 m2. Three years ago, 3,800 m2 was added, and this year the renovation to 8,600 m2 was completed." The reason: future-proof production locations. "Think about quality optimization, sustainable production, and rising raw material prices," says Nico, who, together with Willy, gives a tour through the building. "This renovation was, technically and logistically, a monster project. The entire charcuterie department from Emmen, for instance, moved to Twello; everyone was trained. The sausage factory stays in Emmen, and the kitchen from Hoogeveen will move there. Here, in Twello, we cut and package a range of products from that sausage factory, like deli meats."

Burgers

A good example are the burgers. It's busy in this production hall, from cutting table to final product. Depending on the size of the burger, up to a hundred pieces roll off the belt every minute, recently also flatskin packed. Willy: "We now process twenty times the number of kilos since 2013 to over eighty different burgers. Over half of the recipes were created at the request of our customers." Continuing through the building, Nico and Willy show many other processes and products. Willy enumerates: "We offer more than seventeen exclusive meat concepts, like various types of Wagyu, Gaasterlander Herbal Pork, Joviander veal, Welsh lamb, and beef from Canada to local from the region. We set high standards for origin, animal welfare, and exclusivity. And for craftsmanship. That's why we developed a butcher's training, which delivers enthusiastic new professionals."

Whole-Animal Utilization

Van der Zee also focuses more and more on regional products. "If chefs want to work with them, the quality must be competitive with foreign meat," Willy believes. "Therefore, the concept Regiorunderen was developed, where affiliated farmers keep Angus-Holstein crossbreeds that are raised as naturally as possible. In other words, we are directors of the complete concept - from farm to fork. With everything, whole-animal utilization and footprint are the key words. Every part is used. The fact that people more consciously choose the better meat but now also watch their budget, comes in handy. It makes it simpler to sell less common parts. And care institutions no longer choose steak every day either."

"Ultimately, more and more consumers want to eat better meat, but less," states Jeanine. "We respond to this with, among other things, a plant-based range under a private label." The butcher in Willy gets the last word. "When I see how we have improved meat processing on all levels over time, I can only be optimistic about our future."

www.sismatec.nl
www.vanderzee.nl

Photos: ©Koos Groenewold