Looije at Taste of Amsterdam event

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21/06/2013
Tomato
Talk
Looije at Taste of Amsterdam event
By: Robbert de Jong
with a few samples of their menu. This was supplemented with
other participating companies that allow the visitors to try
From Thursday the 6th of June until Sunday the 9th of June,
their beautiful products. This included a wide range of items
the Amstelpark in Amsterdam was the location for the culinary
including salt from England, Japanese knives, vodka from the
event “Taste of Amsterdam”. Just like previous years, we were
Dutch Hoekse Waard region and of course Honingtomaten®.
present on behalf of Looije for giving all those present a chance
to taste our delicious Honingtomaten®. After all, the tastiest
The weekend was a resounding success. The weather was
tomato of the Netherlands certainly should not be missing from
splendid, there were many visitors and a lot of enthusiasm
the largest Dutch culinary festival.
regarding our little tomatoes as well as the way they were
presented. Even those Dutch celebrities present were happy to
Especially for that occasion and only for that weekend, an entire
discover our tomatoes. Victoria Koblenko for example thought
village was constructed in the park, giving a few of Amsterdam’s
these were “drop dead tasty!”
very best restaurants the opportunity to present the audience
A closer look at the new building
By: Willemijn Visser
easy to see how much the building has advanced. Below you can see
the first photo taken with this camera and a photo taken this week.
In Naaldwijk, the building of the new packaging hall is in full swing.
In order to be able to follow the construction more closely, ACS has
The very first picture was taken on the 29th of May. You can see this
installed a camera above the site hut on the edge of the greenhouse.
on the left, on the right the photo of the 20st of June.
This camera takes a picture of the building site every 15 minutes.
Because the photos are taken from exactly the same position, it is
Spot the differences ;-)
6/5
Safety first
20/6
As soon as you enter the fenced off building site you are obliged to…:
…make sure you have announced you visit in advance to the Hercuton
Recently, there has been a lot of building going on. It is fun to see how
work foreman, Martin van der Aar
construction progresses but, in order to make sure this continues to
…wear safety boots
be fun, there are some rules and regulations that we wish to share with
…wear a hard-hat (Hercuton has a few hard-hats for visitors in the site
you.
hut)
By: Cynthia Boekestijn
On Friday the 7th of June, we surprised our colleague Agnieszka
Marcinek with some gifts. On Saturday the 22nd of June, she will get
married to her fiancé and we couldn’t let this go unnoticed.
We surprised her with flowers, a bottle of wine and a dinner voucher
for the Euromast, where they can have a romantic dinner.
We wish Agnieszka and Jacek (who works in Naaldwijk) lots of
happiness together!
Surprise!
Introduction Josef Weirauch
Since the start of June, the Looije team has been extended.
Josef Weirauch joined the company as a representative for
the German speaking countries in Europe. He is happy to
introduce himself via this interview.
Welcome to our company, what are you going to do
exactly?
Thank you, I am also happy to become part of your team.
I am going to work as a representative for the German
speaking countries in Europe. I will visit the customers and
talk to them about the tomatoes and about the “enjoy the
taste” feeling.
During these conversations, I will ask them where there is room
for improvement, where there are possible problems and what can
be done to prevent or minimize possible obstacles. Furthermore, I
will listen to the market. I will look for opportunities for regional
It is funny though that its national snack has the same shape as our
main export product. Albeit that it has a different colour and smell
and is eaten with some mustard but the shape is basically the same.
Of course, I am talking of the typically Dutch bitterbal, a ball shaped
croquette. I prefer the tomato anytime.
marketing promotions, in-store activities at the end seller and of
course, I will also look for new potential markets. It is a job that
closely combines marketing and sales.
Who is your hero?
The most beautiful woman of the Netherlands: Her Majesty ‘Princess
of the Netherlands’ Beatrix. And as a German: Frau Dr. Angela
What are your first impressions of Looije?
Merkel. The strongest woman in Europe.
The “enjoy the taste” theme can be found all over the company.
When you arrive on Monday, you are given some fresh fruit. You see
tomatoes and other fresh fruit everywhere and everybody goes about
their business with a smile on their face. For me as a vegetarian it is
the ideal positive impression.
Where do you think we will be as a company in about 5 year’s time?
We must continue to hope that the tomatoes will not rebel against
humanity. Just like in “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”. Especially the
Dutch Beefsteak tomato, that’s the one I fear the most… Of course, we
handle our tomatoes with kid gloves. We will certainly be able to stop
Tell us a bit about yourself, who is Josef Weirauch?
I was born in Berlin, Germany in 1984. By now, I have lived in the
Netherlands for a quarter of my life. I started my studies, got a degree,
found love and a job. I ended up working in the fruit and veg industry
after many detours. Because I have been a vegetarian for the last 12
the apocalypse and distribute our Honingtomaten® all over Europe.
Our mission: Every grandmother and mother in the whole of Europe
will want to feed our Honingtomaten® to her little darlings. Whether
it is for a packed lunch for school or work or as a dinner; the way to
anyone’s heart is through their stomach.
years, working with vegetables was very attractive.
When did you last properly laugh out loud?
Personally, I find the Netherlands as a country and its inhabitants very
pleasant. There is no need to come to the Netherlands just for its food.
I share an office with Laurens …
You have to watch yourself; otherwise you go home with a sore jaw…
After having spent the last few weeks at home on maternity leave, Lili
and Adam were finally able to greet their new little baby girl.
Zoé was born on the 20th of June; she saw the light of day at 10 o’clock
Zoé
in the morning. At birth she weighed 3115 grams and measured no
less than 50 cm.
We wish Lili, Adam and Zoé lots of health, happiness and love!
Presentation room Burgerveen inaugurated
By: Willemijn Visser
Of course, the staff had heard a lot about the project but this was
the first time they saw it for real. After a tour of the new rooms, it
As you were able to see on Looije’s Facebook page recently, the new
was time for lunch and for Jos’ presentation about our company. The
building in Burgerveen is as good as finished. In a little while, people
crowning touch was a visit to the greenhouses.
can enjoy lunch in a canteen with a wonderful view. The building plan
also included a special presentation room. This presentation room
It certainly was very pleasant to use the new presentation room. Let’s
was inaugurated last week. For the occasion, the ZZDP architects with
hope that many more presentations and guided tours will follow!
all their staff were present. They were the ones who made this new
development happen.
Column
“Best Tomato”
Jos Looije
energy. These steps
allow us to grow
but all these steps
A few weeks ago we became the winner in the “Best tomato
of the Netherlands” competition. We were awarded with this
title by a panel of expert judges as well as by the public. This
appraisal is based on how we grow our tomatoes as well as how
they taste. It is pretty cool that all those people we are making
an effort for are actually appreciating what we do. We can be
proud of that.
also demand a lot
from our people.
Organizing and
supervising all these
steps in addition
to their normal every day tasks does take it out of them.
Fortunately, all of us are running the company together.
This means that on occasions, we may have to take over
Last year, fuelled by the appreciation of consumers for our
product, we decided to take a leap ahead into the future with
our company and expand. We all know about the construction
of a beautiful new hall and offices in Naaldwijk and a new
greenhouse full of innovative technology in Burgerveen. This
enables us to produce our delicious tomatoes using even less
someone else’s job for a while when they are unable to give it
their full attention, even when it seems like they temporarily
do not notice us. Many people within our company are making
an all out effort in helping the business develop.
Within a year and only if we all take care of our own
responsibilities when and where required, we will be able to
enable even more people to enjoy our “best tomatoes”.
BIRTHDAYS
Floor Petersen (M)
21-6
Wieslawa Polanowicz(N)
25-6
Katarzyna Felisiak (M)
22-6
Malgorzata Goral (M)
27-6
Natalia Matyszewska (B)
23-6
Katarzyna Pluta (B)
27-6
Krzysztof Jamrozek(N)
23-6
Danique Vastenhout (B)
29-6
Stanley van der Stok (N)
23-6
Ismail Yilmaz (N)
1-7
Beata Siwiec(M)
24-6
Jacek Chmura (B)
2-7
Dawid Madej (M)
25-6
Michiel Bontenbal (MT)
3-7
What keeps you busy...
Maija Grosa
My name is Maija Grosa. I m 24 years old and come from Latvia.
… in the world?
In Latvia I worked as a waitress, bartender and manager. In the
I try to keep up with all the significant events that take place in the
Netherlands, I live in Vlaardingen. I have been here for 1.5 years
world. Currently, the current political unrest in Turkey seems to
already and have worked at Looije for that whole period as well.
be topical. I also follow the news and I am very interested in the
economic situation in Latvia and in the Netherlands.
… around you?
I love animals and therefore interested in animal protection and I
I am currently very excited about getting prepared for the
support the activities of the PETA organization.
upcoming vacation. I will go to Latvia, where my friends and
relatives are looking forward to see me. I plan to go bungee
jumping during my vacation, which will be a mind-blowing
experience.
… at work?
I work in the packaging department, where we are currently going
on all cylinders as the season has started and there is a lot of work.
I was pleasantly surprised that we were asked to package the
Honingtomaten® that are sent to Russia. Furthermore, I find it very
interesting to be packaging tomatoes for buyers that are taking
part in a lottery.