1 min
Koppert Cress and its owner Rob Baan were hit hard by Covid-19. Overnight his turnover went down by 95%. Before the Covid-19 crisis his cresses were exported all over the world, mostly from a central production facility in the village of Monster in the Netherlands. His clients - restaurants all over the world - love his range of over 85 different products, from algae with a marvellous velvety bite to sweet tasting or even astonishingly electrifying leaves. Will Baan decentralise his production to be less vulnerable for crises like Covid-19?
Baan believes the hospitality industry will never be the same again. Chefs will stay and employ their craftsmanship in different ways. “Think of food boxes. People can cook at home under guidance of a chef on tv. There are more ways to reach the plate.”
Already before Covid-19 Koppert Cress was diversifying. Next to the location in Monster in The Netherlands, Koppert Cress “already has a franchising system with several companies in Japan, Korea, Autralia, Turkey, and the United States. We teach them our greenhouse system, our marketing system, and we challenge chefs locally. Besides that I sell the seeds”, Baan explains.
For the rest of it Baan sticks to his business model: one cannot prepare for 1 million restaurants closing down worldwide.
Already before Covid-19 Koppert Cress was diversifying. Next to the location in Monster in The Netherlands, Koppert Cress “already has a franchising system with several companies in Japan, Korea, Autralia, Turkey, and the United States. We teach them our greenhouse system, our marketing system, and we challenge chefs locally. Besides that I sell the seeds”, Baan explains.
For the rest of it Baan sticks to his business model: one cannot prepare for 1 million restaurants closing down worldwide.
Rob Baan, the Steve Jobs of Dutch Horticulture
Rob Baan (Haarlem, 1956) is the owner of Koppert Cress, a producer of micro vegetables. He created the company in 2002. His cresses - sprout vegetables - are used globally by the world's leading chefs and restaurants. Koppert Cress has quite a reputation as an innovator in the Dutch greenhouse industry. He was a frontrunner in using LED light. His latest project is harvesting summer sunlight and store it as thermal energy 6.500 feet.
His unusual perspectives define his unique profile in the field of food and health in the Netherlands and far abroad. His personal mission: "Let's look at fresh food and health in a different way."
Koppert Cress
Koppert Cress is on a never-ending quest to find natural, innovative plants, herbs, fruits and weed that chefs can use to surprise their customers. They intensify taste, make both beautiful and tasty presentations and offer new experiences (such as a now famous herb that literally electrifies and waters your mouth, first used by Ferran Adriá's famous restaurant El Bulli in Roses at the Spanish Costa Brava.) An international network of biologists, plant experts and gastronomists support a steady flow of new products, that meet the ever higher culinary demands of restaurants around the world. The latest we tasted was a succulent seaweed tasting both oily and crispy and yet fully natural and cultivated to preserve nature form wild harvesters.
Rob Baan (Haarlem, 1956) is the owner of Koppert Cress, a producer of micro vegetables. He created the company in 2002. His cresses - sprout vegetables - are used globally by the world's leading chefs and restaurants. Koppert Cress has quite a reputation as an innovator in the Dutch greenhouse industry. He was a frontrunner in using LED light. His latest project is harvesting summer sunlight and store it as thermal energy 6.500 feet.
His unusual perspectives define his unique profile in the field of food and health in the Netherlands and far abroad. His personal mission: "Let's look at fresh food and health in a different way."
Koppert Cress
Koppert Cress is on a never-ending quest to find natural, innovative plants, herbs, fruits and weed that chefs can use to surprise their customers. They intensify taste, make both beautiful and tasty presentations and offer new experiences (such as a now famous herb that literally electrifies and waters your mouth, first used by Ferran Adriá's famous restaurant El Bulli in Roses at the Spanish Costa Brava.) An international network of biologists, plant experts and gastronomists support a steady flow of new products, that meet the ever higher culinary demands of restaurants around the world. The latest we tasted was a succulent seaweed tasting both oily and crispy and yet fully natural and cultivated to preserve nature form wild harvesters.
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Rob Baan thank you for the very open interview. You story tells me even when you are very succesfull with a high end value proposition you are still very vulnarable. COVID-19 makes clear the whole food chain is very interlinked. Switching in a short term to other markets is not possible. Building up a new value position takes time and switching to supermarkets as a supplier is not an option. Consumers do switch from restaurant to retail over one night but suppliers are not that flexible. Rob I hope the customers start buying your lovely healthy products.
ROB SAYS IT APTLY, FOOD WITH THE CONTENTS THAT OUR BODIES DEMAND OF OUR FOOD.