Increasing brand awareness HAK

INCREASING BRAND AWARENESS

HAK is one of the top food brands in the Benelux in the preserved foods sector. Philip Yorke reports on a company that just a few years ago, was owned by Heinz and since its independence has grown both its product portfolio and its sales.

HAK was founded in the Netherlands in the 1920s and started out as a grocery trader; it was not until the early 1950s that the company ventured into food production. The very first product to be produced was a home-made apple sauce and the original manufacturing plant was a garden shed. It was this first product which determined the future direction of the company. At that time, an acidic product such as apple sauce could not be sold in a can, because cans then were sealed with lead, which is why the sauce was always packaged and presented in glass. This is the reason why this sector remains glass dominated in the Netherlands market to this day. The ownership of HAK stayed with the same family for 70 years before being sold and eventually becoming part of the Heinz food empire.

However, in 2005 Heinz foods sold the HAK brand of preserved foods to the NPM Capital Group, which opened the door to a new strategy and a renewed drive for growth. Today HAK is also benefiting from the synergies that it shares with its sister company, Jonker Fris, which was formerly part of the Premier Foods Group. The first priority was to rationalise the product portfolios of both companies and to realise the synergies in terms of production capabilities between them.

Today the two companies are achieving combined sales of more than €150 million with around two-thirds of turnover attributed to HAK. They have production facilities just south of Rotterdam on the river Maas. They are only 12km apart and share a very strong market presence in the Dutch market. However, there is a distinct difference between the two companies, for while HAK’s main focus is on

preserved vegetables in glass jars, Jonker Fris produces mainly canned fruit products. This means that the two companies are not in competition and therefore complement each other from a sales and marketing perspective.

Revitalising a trusted brand

After almost five years as part of the Heinz Foods Group, HAK had lost some of its market share and its brand awareness status. The priority therefore was to revitalise and rebuild the iconic Dutch brand.

Quality has always been a key issue at HAK and the re-launch of the brand focused on this aspect and also on the in-store presentation of the products. Visually the packaging and the presentation had to endorse the high quality of the HAK brand. This strategy worked well and within two years the brand was back at the top of its preserved food sector and continuing to gain market share.

Interestingly, the frozen vegetable market has never taken off in the Netherlands in the way that it has in the UK, with the Dutch preserved vegetable market being three times as big as its frozen counterpart.

This is partly because of tradition and partly because of convenience. In a country of only five million households, HAK sells more than 80 million jars a year. Furthermore, HAK controls its own product sourcing and works with the dedicated growers, thus ensuring optimal quality control and freshness.

HAK’s contracted suppliers grow their crops according to an agreed programme organised to ensure that all products go into the jar within three hours of harvesting. Endives, peas, carrots and other produce are sourced within close vicinity to the bottling plant. However, apples are sourced from a larger area, including northern France, Belgium and Germany. HAK’s beans are imported from outside Europe and the company constantly strives to carefully control quality. In addition, all its products are GM-free.

Expanding markets

With its strong presence in the Netherlands and Belgium, HAK has been looking to the UK and Germany as part of its export drive. Being a member of a bigger European food group such as NPM, the opportunities for entry into these big markets are enhanced by the group’s established connections with importers and wholesalers. The company sees the UK market as a very interesting one as it is a market that appreciates high quality products. Currently around 70 per cent of HAK’s sales come from its domestic market, however its sister company Jonker Fris enjoys a higher level of exports with products already being sold into the UK and Germany. This will no doubt assist the way forward for HAK in these markets.

In the future, NPM is expected to buy further Dutch-owned food brands which are well established with Dutch consumers. This will bring further benefits to HAK from the increased level of integration that this will offer. An NPM spokesman said, “Once we have completed our task of rebuilding and revitalising the HAK brand, we will start exporting to places where we are hardly present or not present at all, and we will continue to gain from the synergies that these new acquisitions will offer us”. n