Siebe van Wijk started the company The Fruit Republic in Vietnam a few years ago and is now one of the largest fruit exporters in Vietnam. The most important products are the Pink and Honey pomelo, but in addition the company offers a growing fruit portfolio from Vietnam. "We saw an enormous increase in the demand for freshly cut products during the last two years. We then built a hall of 4,000 m2 with a fresh-cut department of 1,000 m2," Siebe says. "Almost everything there is handwork, because the result is the best." During the Asia Fruit Logistica this year the Fruit Republic presented itself again with its varied products. "New this year is the packing of the fresh-cut products. We have developed a new punnet and a special sleeve, on which all information about the product has been clearly set out. We could not publish everything on the sticker, which was on the packing first. Now we can tell the whole story. For a month now our fresh-cut fruit in this new packing is sold in various Asian supermarkets under the brand Wildboi."
Export fresh-cut starts
"First of all we served the local market with our fresh-cut products, but slowly the export is starting," the enthusiastic entrepreneur continues. "We expect a large increase in the coming period, because supermarkets do not only want fresh-cut pomelo's on the shelves, but a number of products next to each other. In the area of export, most interest is from the United Kingdom and France. Other European countries also show interest. Many concentrate on comfort and want to eat a product immediately. The products go there via a direct flight. The product is then already within a day at the place of destination."
Large volumes
"The Fruit Republic has permanent growers from whom the entire harvest is obtained. For export clients in general prefer a nice peel and the fruit with a small scratch or dent we use for the fresh-cut production. We need a lot of volumes, because an average Vietnam family eats between ten and twelve pomelo's each week. We also offer 1 kilo punnets for fresh-cut fruit. With this we looked at the hotel and restaurants in first instance, but the 'regular' consumer buys these as well. They only need a party or a picnic and these kilo packs go over the counter like warm rolls. We also sell well to large companies, which in the framework of 'wellness programs' for their staff offer fresh fruit as a snack. We supply for instance the head offices of Nestle, GlaxoSmithKlkeine and others, where many hundreds of staff members now eat a fresh-cut fruit snack from the Fruit Republic every day. Consequently there are still sufficient opportunities of growth for our products" Siebe concludes.
