Adding value to sleeping categories

AMSTERDAM - This month Michel Wildenborg is celebrating his 5^th anniversary as general director of the company Heksenkaas, since November part of the Roerink Food Family. Since his start in 2012 with the tasty, for Halloween developed magic cream dip Heks’nkaas® many things have happened. ‘We came into the market with a fully new product and developed a complete new category. After launch things went very fast, the product has grown tremendously. We won the Wheel of Retail and the Food Award, we were involved in all kinds of new developments in the world of food. I look back on a great 5 years, a very exciting period,’ Wildenborg explains.    

Of course, this growth has not appeared from nowhere. Heks’nkaas® was deliberately launched into the soft cheeses segment and not in the salads or sauces category. Wildenborg: ‘The soft cheese category was a sleeping category and that is what we are looking for. How can we add value to a category that can use some cheering up?’ Recently a new product was added to the portfolio, a smooth herb butter. More about the strategy and ambition of Heksenkaas can be seen in the complete interview with Michel Wildenborg at http://www.theexportnetwork.nl/in-beeld/op-bezoek-bij-heksenkaas/.   

In the meantime, new developments are ongoing. On November 20 was announced that Heksenkaas has been bought by Salad Signature. This does not change the ambitions however. ‘We would like to grow internationally. This requires a new approach and is not so easy. You notice that the culture in other countries is different, which might ask for a different positioning.’ This is a real search, but Heksenkaas is aiming for continuation of the Dutch growth of the last 5 years on an international scale.  

For this reason, Heksenkaas started a cooperation with TEN the export network some time ago. TEN advises and supports food & beverage companies that are aiming to broaden their horizons. They co-ordinate food export activities, encourage business development projects, and create new international links. TEN also helps improving the standard of existing export activities, and operate as SIB advisor (Starters International Business, an initiative of the Dutch government) to SMEs. For more information www.theexportnetwork.nl or contact TEN for a first meeting: http://www.theexportnetwork.nl/contact/