What do you do when the sales organization that used to sell your 
cucumbers stops? Then you look for another, or you opt to take care of sales yourself. This is what Frank van Lipzig of Van Lipzig Tuinderijen will be doing this season since Quality Queen went bankrupt at the end of last year.
Photo right: Frank van Lipzig
The close-knit family business from Limburg in the Netherlands has been cultivating cucumbers for three generations, and now does so on an unlighted area of 8.5 hectares. The company has turned into an independent player, so the decision to take care of things themselves was quite logical. “In the past couple of years, we have been selling a considerable amount of our products directly to retailers”, says Frank. “This always went smoothly with a good product with which we were able to make a name for ourselves. This is of great help to us now, as is the fact that we do the packaging ourselves and can also guarantee a good delivery.”
Own sale, own logo
Van Lipzig Tuinderijen will keep on supplying several retailers this year as well. “A large part of this year's production I have already been able to sell. I will go to market with what is left myself this year.”
All of this with, for the first time ever, their own company logo and 
corporate design, which was recently introduced. “We actually never really used a logo or a corporate design in our company”, says Frank. “Now was the time to do so, though we were a bit nervous to see that the parties who helped us with the logo, strategic consulting firm Viduro and graphic design agency Kempen, would come up with.”
Week 9 of production
Eventually, the logo with a combination of blue and light green, showing the cross-section of a cucumber and a blue shield in the shape of the letter L (for Van Lipzig Tuinderijen), which also represents the three generations of cucumber growers and their traditions, was chosen.
Under the name Van Lipzig Tuinderijen and with the new logo, the cucumbers will be sent out again starting week nine. “Everything according to plan, because the one to two day delay that has been happening due to the relatively dark weather of the past few days is really nothing.”
One more week of being patient
Frank is not worried about the current low prices in the market. “Not yet, because the season has only just begun. Besides, a large part of the production has already been sold under contract, leading me to only bring the surplus to the market. If the prices are low for that, then that’s the way it is. However, in the cucumber market, the prices can just as easily rise again, especially when the supply rocks back and forth during crop rotation and the transition between import and production from our own soil.”
For more information:
Van Lipzig Tuinderijen
www.vanlipzigtuinderijen.com
info@vanlipzigtuinderijen.com
Frank van Lipzig
+31(0)6-47958848