Bakker Barendrecht, a Greenyard company, starts construction this week on a new centre for fresh fruit and vegetables in Ridderkerk, The Netherlands. The state-of-the-art building will apply the latest technological innovations for fresh fruit and vegetables in warehousing, packing, and ripening. Including the use of mechanisation in warehousing and meal-kit production, and renewed production lines for specialist fruit categories such as grapes, citrus, and soft fruits. The site will also have the largest ripening centre in Europe with more than 150 ripening cells. This puts Bakker, as a food & tech company, at the forefront of product specialisation and process innovation. Supplying the best quality tasty and healthy fruit and vegetables to its strategic partners Albert Heijn, Delhaize, Albert, and Koninklijke Vezet.
The new fresh food centre will be located next to the existing Laurierweg site and will cover an area of no less than 55 600 square metres. It will be built according to BREEAM Excellent certification, meeting the latest, very high sustainability requirements. This includes the choice of materials, energy efficiency, and a good indoor climate. Bakker will occupy the new site in phases as of mid-2026.
Strategic partnership, innovation, and quality
Maarten van Hamburg, Managing Director of Bakker division: "Bakker Barendrecht has been working closely with Albert Heijn as a strategic partner for 65 years. Bakker also has a long-standing strategic partnership with Delhaize in Belgium and Albert in the Czech Republic. Through these long-term partnerships with our customers and our growers, we deliver the best quality fresh fruit and vegetables to more than 10 million consumers every day. With the construction of the new fresh food centre at Dutch Fresh Port in Ridderkerk, we are investing in innovation, quality, sustainability, and efficiency, and can respond even better to the growing demand for tasty and healthy fruit and vegetables. In this way, together we are making an impact on tomorrow's food."
Jan Willem Balk, Sourcing Director at Albert Heijn: "From our mission 'Together we make eating better the easy choice. For everyone.' Albert Heijn aims to contribute to a healthy, sustainable, and social society. By continuing to invest in sustainability and quality, we can continuously offer our customers the best and tastiest products. The construction of the new centre of Bakker Barendrecht enables us, as a strategic partner, to better respond to the growing customer demand for delicious, fresh, and healthy fruits and vegetables."
The well-being of our people is key and this is also included in the construction of our new fresh food centre with maximum attention to a healthy, safe and enjoyable working environment. The ambition for the new location is to achieve WELL Platinum certification. This underlines Bakker's aim to distinguish itself as the best employer in the region.
For more information:
Janneke Goudswaard
Bakker Barenrecht
Tel: +31 88 69 59 911
[email protected]
Cedric Pauwels
Greenyard
Tel: +32 15 32 42 49
[email protected]
www.greenyard.group