“We don’t follow the habits of the sector”

In recent years, Stoffels Tomaten has managed to influence the tomato market with unique concepts quite a few times. This year, the tomato growers present the Toma’Muse, a new concept with only a limited number of growers worldwide. With the Automato, a “playful and hygienic self-service machine for snack tomatoes,” Stoffels wants to bring even more attention to healthy snacking.

In the second week of March, the market was still switching from illuminated production to non-illuminated production. “This week, the first non-illuminated tomatoes were harvested in the greenhouses in Rijkevoorsel, Belgium,” says Paul Stoffels. “In coming weeks, the lamps in the greenhouses will gradually be switched off, and everything will be non-illuminated as of 1 April.” The winter months went well. “We’re satisfied with our sales. Because we have many permanent lines, we’re less dependent on the day market.” Besides, customers choose illuminated production from the Netherlands or Belgium more and more, instead of switching to Spanish import. “With the year-round production in Belgium, we can offer customers more certainty. The Spanish production is also partly complementary to the production in Northern Europe.”

The tomato grower’s area is just over 30 hectares. Of that, more than half has been outfitted with lighting. “We definitely have the ambition to light even more of our area, so that we can organise our year-round production even better.” The relationships that are built with customers due to year-round supply come in handy in times of much production. Besides their own production in the greenhouses in Rijkevoorsel, Stoffels Tomaten also works with a number of other players. That harvest is packed on location in Rijkevoorsel.

“We try to think very market-oriented and be innovative,” says Petra Veldman. “We don’t always follow the habits of the sector in that. It’s a longer and more expensive road, but it has often proven to be the better option in the past, although success isn’t always guaranteed.” From that thought, the company also introduces new tomato concepts. Self-willed choices are made to that end, in the field of variety innovation as well. Although the entire market is moving more towards sweeter snack tomatoes, with a focus on brix levels, Paul and Petra look further. “To us, flavour is a broader term than just sweet. We have our own system to assess flavour,” Petra says. That’s why Paul and Petra often spend longer on varieties that aren’t the sweetest or have the highest yield in the demo greenhouses.

“The tomato sector tends to follow. If a few prominent parties head into a certain direction, the rest will follow,” Petra says. One example are the red snack tomatoes, whose flavour is becoming ever sweeter. “You can see ten varieties that are all vying for the same corner on the market, and they’re barely distinguishable from one another. That’s how you get price wars.”

Marketing a new concept requires time and money. “You have to dare to make investments. We worked on the development of the Toma’Muse for the past three years, and it’s only marketed this year,” Paul says. “The shelf space for tomatoes isn’t expanded. Fifteen years ago it was fairly easy to introduce a new tomato, but it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to renew,” Paul continues. “The Toma’Muse is a very special tomato with a uniquely herbal flavour, a dark burgundy colour and a very different shape. The appearance of a new category is exceptional.”

The Toma’Muse brand is built around five growers worldwide, who have the exclusive rights for this tomato. “Because of this exclusive collaboration, we can market a brand without the risk of the variety being released,” Paul explains. He calls it a classic example of how he likes to see cooperations. The growers, spread across the world, can work together to promote the brand, but aren’t in each other’s way regarding sales.

“The Toma’Muse was picked up by retail fairly quickly,” Paul continues. The fruit’s distinctive characteristics definitely played their part in that, but Stoffels’ reputation was also a deciding factor in this. “With the Toma’Gusto we also went against the trends. The market was in danger of becoming saturated with small snack tomatoes, so we started looking for a large kitchen tomato a few years ago. The Toma’Gusto has a weight of 100 grammes, and is therefore more of a large speciality, but it does have a great flavour.”

The team uses a number of parameters to assess if a variety can become successful. This was the case with Toma’Gusto, although it took a bit longer than planned. “Consumers don’t always look as far ahead as we do, but we learned from this.” In any case, it takes two years to properly market a new concept.

Paul exemplifies: a retailer who had Toma’dor bags of Stoffels Tomaten in their assortment, decided to stop after a while because they thought it was too expensive. The supermarket changed its mind after many customers responded to this decision by saying they missed the tomatoes, and the retailer put the tomatoes back on their shelves. It has now become a permanent value in their range.

“Sometimes retailers cooperate in the communication to the consumer, but the responsibility is often ours,” Petra says. “We are an independent player, and that has its consequences.” The sector has the tide on their side, but this isn’t much used, according to Petra. “There’s less room for meat and carbs in the trend for healthy food, and this is in favour of fruit and vegetables. Boosting consumption shouldn’t be that hard.”

It’s “inconceivable” not more work is done for this, she continues. “Many consumers still have the wrong idea of the vegetable production in Belgium and the Netherlands. Consumers who visit us are always surprised.” More should be done with this throughout the sector. Just like the promotion of vegetables as a healthy snack. “We won’t solve the sugar addiction if we keep producing sweeter and sweeter vegetables, we have to explain flavour to consumers,” Paul says. “Fruit and vegetables have a broad range of flavours, and consumers know how to appreciate this.”

For more information:
Stoffels Tomaten
Paul Stoffels

paul@stoffels-tomaten.be

Petra Veldman