Dutch fresh produce company Staay-Van Rijn, part of the Staay Food Group, is targeting sales in excess of €100m as it prepares to open the doors of a new and ultra-modern 12,000m2 packing facility in Venlo on Monday 4 June – its third major opening in three years.
Double the size of its current location, the new building is located in Fresh Park Venlo and apparently allows the supplier to offer optimum service to target customers in international retail, foodservice and wholesale.
“The new building is another great step in the Staay Food Group’s renewal process in order to prepare itself for the future,” the company said in a statement.
“The new building in Venlo is, after the delivery of the new premises for Staay-Hispa in Papendrecht (June 2015) and the new facilities for the processor Fresh Care Convenience in Dronten (June 2017), the third opening in three years, allowing Staay Food Group to offer its clients the best possible service.”
In the statement, the group also underlined its turnover objective, an aim it said was based on offering a broad range of fresh produce items from a logistically “perfect” location to an extensive international customer base.
“[The new centre’s] location in Fresh Park Venlo, the Netherlands’ logistical fruit and vegetable hotspot, means that Staay-Van Rijn now has a sales territory of more than 20m consumers within a radius of 100km,” it observed. “It can also deliver to most of its clients in Europe within 12 hours.”
All on green
The new facility includes a number of energy management features, such as a cooling system that works with CO2 rather than chemical cooling agents.
“What is also surprising is that there isn’t a gas connection in the building,” the company noted. “All the residual heat and cold from the cooling installation is reused in the 1,500m2 office space, helping to cool the offices in summer and keeping them warm in the winter.”
A large roof space has also been prepared for the future installation of solar panels.
As for storage and trading areas, Staay-Van Rijn said a specially laid-out, 3,000m2 portion of the packhouse would enable it to separate various logistical processes from each other, so they can be better tailored to different clients.
The previous centre’s Cash & Carry, meanwhile, has been divided into three climate zones, its range extended and a glass frontage added to attract more members of the public.
Efficiency of order picking and stock management for export clients has also been improved, the company continued, with “significantly larger” refrigeration unit capacity – enough for 75 containers – meaning that more products can be taken directly to Venlo, further shortening lead times.
“The buildings’ greater capacity and better layout also allows the business as a whole to become more efficient and stronger,” it added. “The application of ICT, in areas like the development of a webshop and WMS module, is going to considerably improve the exploitation of the new building in terms of turnover and efficiency.”
The facility’s reception, docking and loading areas have also been arranged to offer more convenience for hauliers and customers, it said.
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