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 Golden Anniversay Supplement - October 2009  |
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Quick Frozen Foods International Magazine Celebrates 50 Golden Years of Publication
“Birds Eye Unilever Group Buys Times Food Products Co. in England;” “Egypt and Japan Sign Contract for Shrimp Freezing Plant;” “Italy Bans Meat Imports, Except ‘Reprocessing’ Beef;” “Boil-in-Bag Wave of the Future: A True Revolution in Food Convenience.” Those were among the headlines of stories featured in Volume 1, Number 1 of Quick Frozen Foods International (QFFI) magazine, which rolled off the press in the summer of 1959. The first edition, which contained 48 pages, also carried stories about the expanding Swedish frozen food market, as well as reports on developments in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Norway, Finland, Russia, Iran, Japan, Australia and the USA. Among inaugural issue advertisers were London-headquartered Birds Eye Foods, Ltd., which proclaimed: “Britain Stops at the Birds Eye Shop;” Sweet Sue Poultry Co. of Athens, Georgia, USA: “The Profit Poultry Line for You”; Florida Frozen Foods Processors of Miami: “Production Wanted – Sell Us Your Shrimp, We Buy Direct;” Tyler Refrigeration: “New Tyler Plant in West Germany Now in Full Production;” and New York-headquartered Atalanta Trading Corp.: “Atalanta’s National Sales Force Can Open Doors for Your Products in All Markets of the USA.”
The quarterly magazine, founded by E.W. Williams in New York City half a century ago and published without interruption ever since, has the distinction of having chronicled the rise of the frozen food industry from a global perspective longer than any other publication – past or present. Initially it was designed primarily to serve the then fledgling frozen food producers of Europe, as well provide reports covering the more established North American marketplace. Over the years, with the advance of the industry in all directions, the magazine’s circulation and readership has grown and spread to more than 130 countries around the world. The launch of the www.qffintl.com Internet website in 2001 has since broadened its reach to all points on the digital dial. E.W. Williams, who when launching QFFI already had more than 20 years under his belt as the publisher of a successful trade journal in the United States dedicated exclusively to the frozen food business, was an entrepreneurial man of vision. In the first issue of Quick Frozen Foods International, he wrote: “Reading the pages of this magazine will reveal that frozen food, its techniques and advantages have become the property of the world. Its rate of growth will vary from nation to nation, depending upon the standard of living, customs and technical advancement, but one thing is certain – it will grow! The magazine’s founder, first editor and publisher, prolific writer and savvy business analyst was right on target. Today the positive impact of the frozen food industry is felt globally, and in this special commemorative section QFFI’s contemporary editorial team, advertising personnel, circulation and production departments invite readers to celebrate this milestone achievement of 50-years of non-stop publication with us. In the Beginning Actually, the pre-historic period of QFFI began in 1950, some 12 years after Williams launched Quick Frozen Foods (QFF) magazine in the United States. It was the first publication devoted exclusively to the frozen food business. As Europeans were increasingly subscribing to QFF, the publisher decided to take a trip across the Atlantic to see first-hand what was going on in Europe’s frozen food sector.
“I immediately felt that if there was any country which had a real economic need for frozen foods, that country was the United Kingdom,” wrote Williams. “If Britain were to have a chain of frozen food fortresses in the form of freezing plants, its [post-World War II] food problems would be minimized. At that time rationing was still in place, and the sale of refrigerators was curtailed because people couldn’t buy enough food or meat under rationing. Nevertheless, in that year about 50 million pounds of peas were packed. “There was little promotion and Birds Eye and Smedley were the leading processors. Still, frozen foods were moving and some stores claimed to be doing $140 to $200 a month. Birds Eye then had the largest plant in Europe at Yarmouth, and the late George Muddiman was then chairman. “J. Lyons & Co. was already operating on a large scale in pre-cooked foods, equal to any similar effort in the US at the time. In 1950, fully 75% of the total trade in Britain was in catering.” Williams’ next stop was France, and he did not miss the opportunity to enjoy the advantages of being an American in Paris at a time when the dollar was strong and reliable information about the French frozen food market was weak. He was soon brought up to speed on French developments by Jean Bamberger, who doubled as head of the nation’s Quick Freezing Institute and Maison Olida, a high-volume producer of frozen meat specialties. “One of the most unusual plants I saw in France, which was quite a surprise, was that of Les Eleveurs Vendeens, under the direction of Charles Gracieux,” wrote the editor and publisher. “After having conducted many experiments in pre-cooked foods, he began with a line of gourmet French items.” While production of frozen foods was growing, the retailing and distribution link in the cold chain was inconsistent at the time. “I searched the continent in vain for a store selling frozen foods in August and September,” recalled Williams. “They were just not sold in the summer in France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark and other countries. Retail cabinets were converted into ice cream dispensers or closed all together, and frozen food selling didn’t resume until October.” A survey of the German market in 1950 discovered that many frozen food manufacturers were dependent on supplying the United States Army through depots centralized in Frankfurt. One enterprising businessman, who later became a longtime Quick Frozen Foods International subscriber, first got the idea of getting into the business when reading about frozen TV dinners in a copy of Life magazine, an American publication that had somehow found its way to Rheine. Karl Düsterberg, 41-years-old at the time, a wholesaler of fruits and vegetables, asked himself: why not process the food items he was selling? And so, in April of 1958, he founded apetito AG, which rose to the position of Germany’s leading caterer to the in-plant and institutional feeding sector. With ten fellow workers he started producing four different ready meals, frozen in aluminum trays. Düsterberg first sought to sell to private households, but soon found that his best customers were catering and foodservice operators. It was slow going at first. This was new territory in Germany. There was relatively little experience in large scale industrial cooking and freezing of food, and in discerning the desires of customers. The public was initially skeptical, but an advertising campaign in 1960 put the firm on the road to success.
Milestones included the development, in 1969, of the first meals specifically for children, and the introduction in 1971, in cooperation with the Red Cross, of Germany’s first “Meals on Wheels” program. In 1989 the company began to internationalize, with an external subsidiary in the Netherlands. Other subsidiaries followed in the UK (1991), France (1994) and Canada (2007). In 2003 apetito went into retail stores for the first time with its own brand. Television spots were inaugurated in 2006. In November of 2007 apetito acquired Costa Meeresspezialitäten GmbH & Co. KG of Emden, which had previously belonged to the Oetker Group, thus greatly expanding its capacity for serving the retail sector with fish and seafood. Karl Düsterberg is, among a select cadre of extraordinarily successful pioneers of the industry, a recipient of Quick Frozen Foods International magazine’s Golden Crystal Lifetime Achievement Award. He was presented the prize along with McCain Foods Chairman and co-founder Harrison McCain during a special ceremony at the 1997 Anuga in Cologne. E.W. Williams, as a regular visitor to European frozen food companies in the decade leading up to the introduction of QFFI, became well acquainted with the industry’s early movers and shakers during the 1950s. As many of them expressed interest in learning details about prepared foods production and sales in the United States, the magazine was full of such articles from the get-go. On the waterfront in Germany, the fishing industry was fairly active in 1959, as Williams learned after meeting with Arthur Köser in Bremerhaven. A third-generation member of a Hamburg-based fish importing family, he was doing a brisk business shipping frozen cod, haddock and perch to the USA under the IFICO label, which was launched in 1951. Herr Köser, who died in 1990 at the age of 91, was a major supplier of frozen shellfish to the German market. In a smart move to stimulate sales of upscale seafood, ready meals and delicatessen items, he created a catalog mail order distribution business that secured orders from customers throughout Europe. Pickenpack, a family-run fishing company dating back to 1906, was among the early pioneers of Germany’s frozen fish industry as it entered the business in 1954. Two years later, under the direction of Jan Pickenpack and operating as Pickenpack Tiefkühlgesellschaft, it became a full-fledged distributing agency for Hamburg-based fishing companies. It would take another 19 years before it got into land-based production in earnest, after setting up a state-of-the-art production plant in Lüneberg that to this day specializes in packing private label fish fingers and ready meals. By the 1990s it was generating annual sales of DM 50 million (25.6 million euros). The company was acquired by Gilde Buy-Out Fund BV in 1999, and merged with Hussmann & Hahn Seafood GmbH in 2003. Two years later it was acquired by the Icelandic Group. “There were few large scale processing plants beyond the major port cities in 1959,” recalled Williams. “One was Bronner & Heuss in Wiesbaden, later taken over by Edeka. A Mr. Gumbel was then its owner, and was putting up about nine million pounds of fruits and vegetables under the Tiko label and supplying 3,000 retail outlets in Germany as well as the US Army.” It is interesting to note that this company advertised in Quick Frozen Foods magazine during the 1950s to promote the sale of asparagus, spinach, peas, string beans and strawberries to American buyers. 1960s, Pre-Beatles Britain
In 1960, the only beetles of significance in Britain were those that might threaten summer vegetable and fruit crops bound for freezer plants. The Beatles, who would surpass Elvis Presley in popularity on the pop music scene four years later, were still minus Ringo and then known as the Quarry-Men to their Liverpool area fans. Still, the beat was pulsating rapidly in the ever evolving frozen food industry. There were 65,000 freezer cabinets in service at 130,000 retail outlets in the UK as the Sixties Decade began rocking and rolling. The Birds Eye range included mixed vegetables, whole strawberries, beef burgers, chicken pies, green beans, peas, broccoli and haddock fillets. Findus offered berries, small peas, Swedish meatballs and similar products. Mudd’s, another English brand then active, was featuring fish cakes as well as fish and chips in a unique package. Other important brands on the market were Smedley’s and Eskimo. Manuels Frosted Foods Ltd. was one of Britain’s leading frozen food distributors in 1960. It handled the Findus line under the direction of Lionel Manuel. The company later opened a larger distribution center, which eventually Findus took over under the direction of its Nestlé parent. Chips off the Frozen Block In July of 1960 QFFI speculated: “With the popularity of fish and chips, one might think that frozen french fries would be an ideal catering item in England and on the Continent. Right now most buyers do their own peeling and slicing, but this market may be ready soon. There is a growing demand for frozen potato products all over Europe.” The prediction was certainly borne out in later years! Ross estimated that by 1970 there would be 200,000 retail outlets in the UK, each selling an average of 400 pounds of frozen food per year. It could be said that the early ’60s were the “salad days” of the frozen food industries in Britain, Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Norway and Denmark. New products were being launched rapidly and prepared dishes were coming on the market in a steady stream. Retailers were starting to install larger cabinets and distribution was improved. German Market Stirs
In Germany in 1960 there were a number of established packers, though many were relatively small. The main drawback was that frozen food had not really been sold to the public as convincingly it had been in some other countries. Few companies then seemed willing to spend the necessary funds for promotion. “I remember talking to one large retailer at the time who insisted that frozen spinach should be sold cheaper than canned because canned was well known among consumers and frozen was not,” wrote E.W. Williams. “My efforts to convince him that freezing represents a better method of food preservation and consequently well-packed frozen spinach is better than canned, or even fresh, were fruitless.” Nonetheless, German supermarkets were growing, and the Neckermann’s chain showed a 25% increase in frozen food sales. Karstadt, a department store operation, had increased its frozen food volume, led by poultry. So had Kaufhaus. Breaded fish sticks were beginning to gain popularity, and a considerable amount of American-made equipment was being sold in Germany – ranging from packaging lines and scales to farm field harvesters. Frozen food consumption in Germany then was about 27,000 tons, of which most was poultry. Findus had also started rolling out products in Germany, but neither Solo Feinfrost nor Findus were producing in country, and thus had to pay a high duty to get vegetables into the Federal Republic. In due course, they built their own plants in what would eventually become Europe’s largest frozen food market.
Meanwhile, the leading local brand was Teka, which was found on quite a variety of items. Pankofer was also operating in Germany, and had just been bought out by Nestlé in Switzerland, which later merged it into the Findus brand. Another early German packer, H. Lupke, was engaged in producing mostly frozen vegetables. Vahrmeyer & Kruse was yet another, as was Bratzler. Dr. Oetker had begun to study the possibilities. The company was then producing frozen seafoods with its own vessels. Deep Roots of FRoSTA Destined to shape the German frozen food industry in a big way, Dirk Ahlers served his apprenticeship with Hamburg-Sud, a shipping company and part of the Oetker Group, in Hamburg and London beginning in 1957. He then trained with a fish trawling outfit in Grimsby, England, where he made contact with the frozen fish and vegetable operations of Findus and Ross. Returning to Germany, Ahlers joined the management of his family’s fish trawling firm in the port city of Bremerhaven. The company had been the first in Europe to freeze fillet blocks at sea on the stern trawler Sagitta in 1957. When its second factory trawler Vest Recklinghausen went into operation, production increased enough to supply exports to the UK. That export trade became the foundation of FRoSTA, Ahlers’ own trading company, which he created to supply seven-pound cod fillet blocks to fish and chips restaurants in the United Kingdom. From there, FRoSTA expanded into retail packs under the Findus brand as a co-packer for Nestlé. The Ahlers family acquired Schottke, another Bremerhaven company, to handle the actual production. Dirk Ahlers himself did extensive processing and product development aboard the trawlers to set the stage for on-shore production. The trawlers were later sold after the company lost its fishing rights. In 1966, Ahlers began studying economics and political science at the University of Hamburg, while also still working. By 1970, after the death of his father, he was running both Schottke and FRoSTA. He soon launched a line of frozen fish and vegetables in Germany under the FRoSTA brand, and later acquired another plant in Bremerhaven from Oetker to produce ready meals. On the vegetable front, Ahlers began having greens produced under the FRoSTA brand and private labels at the RTK plant at Bobenheim-Roxheim, near Frankfurt. After the political reunification of Germany following the fall of the Berlin Wall, FRoSTA bought out the Elbtal operation in the former Deutsches Democratic Republic. In 1993, Schottke, FRoSTA, RTK and Elbtal were consolidated as a public company, FRoSTA AG, with 30% of the shares being floated. That same year, the first TV commercial for FRoSTA ready meals appeared. When Unilever and its Iglo brand pulled out of Poland in 1999, FRoSTA acquired the company’s Bydgoszoz frozen fish plant there and began distributing the FRoSTA brand, which is now market leader in frozen fish and ready meals.
A major force in the FRoSTA organization for many years was Achim Schön, who served as head of marketing at Schottke in 1975. He was promoted to director of sales five years later, and in 1983 was named director of marketing and sales. During that period, he was actively engaged in the launch and extension of the FRoSTA brand of frozen fish products, ready meals and vegetables. In 1995 he began a six-year term as a board member of FRoSTA Ag, responsible for EUR 300 million in turnover, four production sites, and sales operations in 10 countries. In 2001 Schön left FRoSTA to assume the helm at Roncadin, a major producer of private label ice cream products in Germany which is today doing business as R&R. In short order, he successfully reorganized the company and strengthened its position among retail buyers. In 2006 Schön took Roncadin, which was by then a EUR 500 million unit of Oaktree Capital Management and ranked as Europe’s third largest ice cream producer, into Poland with the acquisition of Zielona Budka. The Scandinavian Scene Danish Frosted Foods (Dansk Dbfrost), a joint stock company owned collectively by 30 Danish processors, started out in 1960. Its goal was to install some 3,500 freezer cabinets at numerous retail sites. P. Manford-Hansen, the general director, imported quite few products from the United States and developed a substantial range of stock keeping units. Other large production and brand marketing firms at the time were Plumrose and Findus. Another important retailer was – and still is – Irma, a chain which then had 170 stores already actively merchandising innovative frozen foods. Emborg had a new and modern meat plant in 1960, and was already an important, well-established packer turning out upwards of 750,000 meat patties per week. Turnover in 1960 was reportedly $10 million – all generated by frozen food sales. E.W. Williams visited the new Findus plant in Bjuv, Sweden, to interview Lars Anderfelt, president. QFFI’s founder first met him some 10 years before in the USA, when Anderfelt was just starting out in the frozen food business. He would later become head of Findus International, a division of Nestlé, after putting in a sterling performance promoting frozen food products on both the Continent and in the UK, where the Findus brand then ranked number two to Birds Eye. The second largest packer in Sweden was AB Felix, a company which was later sold to Swedish Match. US Poultry Export Boom In the early years of QFFI’s existence, US producers were sending large volumes of poultry to Europe – especially Germany, where a robust market for broilers was being supplied. In 1959 American exporters shipped 45 million pounds of frozen poultry to the Federal Republic. They were able to cash in on high demand for several years, until increased domestic production in Germany and other European countries made more expensive imports less competitive. The second issue of Quick Frozen Foods International published an article on the fledgling frozen food industry in Belgium. But even then, it was apparent that the geographically small country would grow into a big player in the future – especially in the vegetable and seafood sectors. “The Belgian Port of Ostend rose from its ruins after the war to become one of the most modern and best equipped fishing ports in Europe,” reported QFFI. “The large buildings of Les Frigoriferes du Littoral dominate the waterfront with their quick-freezing plant and adjoining fish meal and ice factories. This achievement is due to the enterprise of L.P.H. Decrop, who founded the company in 1948. The brand name ‘Crop’s’ is derived from his name and familiar to every Belgian housewife.” In the late 1960s it was Viking International that was turning out Crop’s products as well as the Viking brand, which specialized in seafood items including breaded sole and various fillets. The Crop’s name remains in high profile today, with value-added vegetable, fruit and ready meal products manufactured under the label, as well as a myriad of store brands, at the state-of-the-art Crop’s NV factory in Ooigem. Michel Delbaere has been managing director of the company for the almost three decades. “Another leading frozen food packer,” QFFI reported 50 years ago, “is Les Establishments Edouard Materne, S.A., with headquarters in Brussels and plants in Grobendonk and Jambes, plus another in Boue, France. “Frozen products packed under Materne’s Frima label are chopped spinach, tomatoes, asparagus, sliced green beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, celery hearts, leeks, peas, salsify, blueberries, red cherries, currants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries and apples.” The Common Market By 1960 the six-nation Common Market had been formed. The customs union covered 450,000 square miles, contained a population of 170 million, and rang up annual trade in the range of $50 billion – thought to represent about half the world’s volume then. Britain was still not a member of the commercial bloc, as the issue was controversial and bewildering both within and without the island nation. However, it was part of the so-called “outer seven nation” European Free Trade Association, which was ringing up $36 billion in trade per annum within a 90 million population zone. Many UK food companies – especially the larger ones – were staunching in favor of EEC membership. Meanwhile, as QFFI had predicted, frozen potatoes began to take hold and crinkle cuts now made their introduction in England and Continental Europe. Indeed, in 1962 there was a scramble in the UK to obtain imports from Canada and the US. Portion-pack meats, already very popular in America, started slowly in Europe. Ross Foods introduced a line produced at a plant in Ireland. In Germany, ready-to-serve dinners were being introduced in the catering, industrial and institutional feeding markets. By 1962 the Common Market Association of Frozen Vegetables and Fruits was formed with Mr. Ban der Meer as president. This was the first move to set up uniform standards for production and sale. Up to that time the trial basis standards were voluntary. Later they would become law and affect new countries joining the Common Market. Grades would be classified as A, B and C. During the early period of Europe’s frozen food development, those engaged in the business were able to profit by learning from mistakes made in the United States when it pioneered the industry without the benefit of guideposts to follow. QFFI continued to stress in editorials that frozen food quality was absolutely essential, and if high standards were not met, repeat purchases of products would not be likely among disappointed consumers. The magazine asserted that frozen food could only be sold on the basis of top quality, rather than on convenience, which at the time was a much more important factor in the USA than in Europe. By 1961 sales of frozens in northern Europe ranged from two to six percent of total food sales, which was not a bad showing. Things were changing as more women were working outside the home, television ownership was proliferating, and millions of people were buying cars and thus more mobile than ever. Cold War Heats Up
There was a new Cold War on at the beginning of 1962, with Nestlé’s acquisition of Findus setting the stage for a head-on battle for the hearts, minds, stomachs and pocketbooks of European consumers between the two giant conglomerates: Nestlé-Findus and Unilever-Birds Eye. Nestlé’s entry into the frozen food business was capitalized at £16 million. Eighty percent ownership of the new entity, doing business as Findus International, was in the hands of Nestlé. Findus, which was reportedly purchased for around $14 million, held the remaining stake of 20%. Its assets at the time included factories in Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom, plus companies in Italy, Belgium and Germany. James R. Parratt, chairman of Birds Eye Foods Ltd., and Lars Anderfelt, head of Findus, respectively flexed their competitive muscles in exclusive separate interviews published in the July 1962 issue of Quick Frozen Foods International. “The Battle of Britain has begun, and we are getting our invasion barges ready,” declared “Field Marshal” Parratt. But the battle wasn’t just in Britain, it would be waged in strategic markets across the Continent. Parratt was a man of exceptional talent and more than 20 years of experience at Unilever, rising to the top at Birds Eye following distinguished military service during World War II. He became chairman in 1956 and demonstrated enormous ability, unflagging energy and decisiveness. It would not be an understatement to say that to this day the British frozen food industry still bears the stamp of his achievements. Commanding the Findus forces, Anderfelt was a charming man of keen intelligence, wide scope of maneuver and rich in experience. He was to continue to manage the company for a number of years, until his death. The main areas of Europe where the competition for business from frozen food consumers was fierce included England, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Scandinavia and Austria. The shining jewel of the Findus crown was its ultra-modern factory in Bjuv. It was the largest on the Continent at the time, seconded by a fish plant at Hammerfest and others in Denmark and England. Against this arsenal of industrial powerhouses were arrayed Birds Eye’s expanding network of factories in England. Birds Eye at the time did about six times the Findus volume in the UK.
Findus had a distribution contract with Manuels Frosted Food Ltd. in London, which expired in 1963. When it was not renewed, Findus took over the job. The company was getting started in Germany and Austria as well. Unilever had bought Petter, the pioneer packer. When the “Battle of the Giants” was joined, Anderfelt said that he was happy to have Unilever as a competitor, since “they are not price conscious and neither are we.” Parratt replied: “We welcome Findus as a competitor.” With the big guns now firing for effect, an editorial in Quick Frozen Foods International magazine neutrally observed: “Germany probably offers the most immediate promising market on the Continent to anyone who can tackle its sticky distribution system.” Indeed, Germany seemed to be the biggest paradox in the frozen food industry. While the country’s retail outlets were well supplied with freezer cabinets, many were not being utilized to the maximum. Poultry and spinach sales accounted for much of the 80,000 tons of frozens sold per annum. Ice cream was separate, and growing nicely. In Germany the battle lines were tightly drawn. On one side there was Unilever’s Solo Feinfrost with a production plant and with further advantages of efficient transportation links from Holland, an EEC country. On the other side, the recently strengthened Nestlé-Findus group was shortly to be augmented with a new, highly efficient Nestlé factory in Germany. Dr. Oetker was also beginning to seriously wade in the frozen waters, and GEG, a large consumer cooperative, was in the market as well as Edeka, plus a small number of manufacturers. According to Edeka at that time, the average store sold around $125 worth of frozen food per month and enjoyed a markup of 25%. Wholesalers were taking 15-20%. Little did the big companies now contending for domination in the German market realize how long and hard the road would be. Reach-in Cabinets Plug In
Frozen food merchandising at supermarkets got a further boost in the United States in 1962 as eye-level, three-tier shelf models were going through successful tests. Designed by Continental Freezers of Illinois, additional capacity via five-shelf models soon followed. Other cabinet makers followed suit, among them McCray and Tyler. In the UK, the catering business was coming on strong in the early 1960s. Robin Harbud, who was then chairman of the National Association of Wholesale Frozen Food Distributors in Britain, pointed out the growth of wholesalers carrying frozen lines and predicted that the catering market would grow faster in the near future than the retail trade. Catering was now going ahead at full blast, especially in England where Smethurst, Birds Eye’s catering arm, and Frood, the frozen food division of J. Lyons & Co., had both introduced industrial catering services. Ross, which had been in the field for a long time, can be credited for having developed catering in Britain to a high degree. Most of its systems required only two main pieces of kitchen equipment, a rapid end cooker and zero refrigeration. Many of them also utilized convection-style ovens. The industry was marching stridently across northern Europe – particularly in Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Holland. New products were being launched on a regular basis, and prepared frozens were coming on the market in greater number. Retailers were beginning to install larger capacity cabinets, and distribution was being greatly improved. There were perhaps 65,000 supermarkets of various sizes operating in Europe at this time. In another decade, 60-70% of all foodstuffs would be sold through such stores. Groko Grows in Holland Conservenfabriek Kouwenberg NV, a new Dutch firm in Zundert, not too far from the Belgian border, was producing frozen vegetables and fruits at an ultra-modern plant in 1962. Capacity was 10,000 pounds per hour. It later was renamed Groko, and sold products under that brand and well as private labels. Today the company and brand is owned by the Ardooie, Belgium-headquartered Ardo Group, which is the biggest producer of frozen vegetables in Europe. Iglo boasted 75% of Holland’s frozen food trade in the early ’60s, when there were said to be 14,000 stores outfitted with cabinets. The main items packed by Kouwenberg were spinach, kale, beans, endive, soup greens, baby carrots and sprouts. QFFI first interviewed Leo de Bruijn, the company’s export manager, in 1962. He would later become managing director, and guide the outfit through more than three decades of ongoing expansion and several changes of ownership. It would emerge as a major exporter, especially to the UK and German markets. After being taken over by Zuiderent, Groko was acquired by International Telephone and Telegraph Co (ITT). In 1968 it reported sales of $17.5 million and employed 1,126 people producing a wide assortment of products ranging from fruits and vegetables to fish, french fries, Indo-Chinese ready meals and other prepared foods at plants in Holland, Belgium and Germany. ITT sold the holding to Camden, New Jersey, USA-headquartered Campbell Soup Company in 1979. From Pinguin to the PinguinLutosa Group Groko’s success in the early 1960s did not go unnoticed by the entrepreneurial Dejonghe brothers from the West Flanders region of Belgium, who started a small spinach freezing operation in Westrozebeke in 1965 that became Pinguin NV. Today, having evolved into the PinguinLutosa Group, it ranks as the number two producer of frozen vegetable products in Europe. Until 1965 André, George and Frans Dejonghe were engaged in the trading and transport of canned vegetables. “We became enthusiastic about the possibilities [of frozen vegetables] after seeing what Leo de Bruijn was doing at the Groko factory,” he told QFFI. “I thought, why not turn Belgium – which was already known as the ‘Fresh Vegetable Garden of Europe’ – into a ‘Frozen Vegetable Garden’ as well.” Pinguin’s first-year output of 123 tons was mostly carryover peas from a nearby cannery that couldn’t find any other place to get rid of them. Initial sales went to hospital kitchens and other institutions. Within a couple of years the Dejonghes created the Pinguin brand, and in 1974 they reorganized the family business as a limited liability company. Along the way, other frozen vegetable packers had started up. Some, with financial backing from the Dejonghes, evolved over the years to become major competitors. Brothers Guy and Luc Van den Broeke grew up in the potato business. They learned the commercial end of wholesaling and bulk exporting from their father, who negotiated prices in the market. In the 1960s, the family began raising potatoes on 200 acres of farmland in Belgium rented from local growers. Guy and Luc entered the frozen french fry business in earnest during 1977, after acquiring what would become Lutosa’s flagship factory in Leuze-en-Hainaut. The plant had already gone bankrupt twice under previous ownership. Now, with the dynamic Van den Broeke duo in charge, a successful course was charted and launched. Today Lutosa, after merging operations with frozen vegetables specialist Pinguin NV, is more global in scope than ever before. In an interview on the occasion of the Lutosa’s Silver Anniversary in 2003, QFFI asked Guy Van den Broeke how it was that his company not only survived, but thrived during volatile periods of ups and downs in the often unforgiving potato industry. He replied: “In the Netherlands, there used to be upwards of 30 potato processing factories, but year after year they have merged. Today, only four big and three small factories are left. In Belgium, the situation is the opposite as more and more companies joined the potato processing club. This was not necessarily a bad thing, as good competition can be healthy. “People in our region are very fond of managing their own affairs and being independent. They especially want to ‘go for it’ themselves by working hard. Besides, in one way or another, every player within the potato processing business has its accents and its own specialization.” More Vitamins and Minerals in Frozen Vegetables Frozen vs. canned vegetables? No contest! A comparison published in the January 1965 issue of QFFI showed that frozen products nearly always had more vitamins and minerals than their canned cousins. Frozen spinach and turnip greens, for example, offered over 50% more beta carotene than canned counterparts. A German researcher, meanwhile, argued that freezing not only preserves but enhances nutritional value – frozen spinach, for example, was found to release more iron for absorption by the human system than fresh-cooked. The same is true for albumens in meat, eggs and vegetables. Ardo’s Rise to the Top
Born in 1930, Edward Haspeslagh was a full-time farmer until 1960. That’s when he began specializing in supplying fresh vegetables for resale, mostly to canneries. Eager to expand, the Belgian entrepreneur built a coldstore in 1977. In the same year, at the site of his farm in Ardooie, Ardo was founded as a frozen vegetable processing company. Through ongoing investment and acquisition, Ardo now ranks as Europe’s leading producer of frozen vegetables. At last count, it had 15 packing units in nine countries. Sales in 2008 topped EUR 540 million on volume of 513,000 tons of diversified vegetable and fruit products ranging from brussels sprouts with cream and bacon to raspberries and mango. Venturing beyond its home base in West Flanders began in 1985 when, in cooperation with Crop’s NV of nearby Ooigem, control of the HesbayeFrost vegetable processing complex in the Wallonia region of southern Belgium was acquired. Situated in Geer, the plant specializes in freezing a wide variety of locally sourced vegetables including peas, beans, carrots, spinach, curly kale and sprouts. Ardo’s next step was to open sales offices in England and Spain. Further expansion thereafter has been virtually non-stop, with factories and sales offices acquired in France, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Russia, Germany, Portugal, Holland, Ireland, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Austria. When the company’s founder consulted with his wife, Christiane, some 32 years ago about getting into the frozen vegetable business, little did they know then how much the budding company would grow and how far it would go geographically. There was one thing the farmer-turned agri-industrialist was certain about, however: the great opportunity lying ahead. “It’s the future,” he assured Mrs. Haspeslagh. Indeed. Though Edward Haspeslagh – who received QFFI’s Golden Ice Crystal Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 – is enjoying retirement now, a second generation is actively engaged in the company today. Serving as managing director is Jan Haspeslagh, ably assisted by brothers Bernard, Ignance and Xavier. Another key player in the organization, who looks after exports to 54 countries, is Roger Maes, sales director. Crop’s, An Innovator from Way Back The history of Crop’s NV is deep and wide, as roots of the Ooigem, Belgium-based company date back to the early period of the country’s frozen food industrial development shortly after World War II. As reported elsewhere in this history, the Crop’s brand became a household name among many Belgian consumers already in the late 1940s and early ’50s. When Michel Delbaere assumed the helm of the family business in the 1980s he fully recognized that firm control of raw material supply, coupled with increased emphasis on turning out value-added product ranges of vegetables and fruit mixes, would be required to prosper during the remainder of the 20th Century and into the New Millennium. Hence a decision was made to cooperate with a competitor, Ardo, to secure production from the southern part of the country by means of acquiring control of the Geer-based HesbayeFrost factory. There more than 100,000 tons of traditional vegetables, rice and pasta products are currently packed per annum. Independently, Crop’s processes more than 30,000 tons of Mediterranean vegetables at the Monliz factory in Alpiarca, Portugal, in addition to 50,000 tons of value-added vegetables and fruit blends at its flagship factory in Ooigem. As a major private label supplier, Crop’s has regularly been fast out of the starting blocks to develop innovative products and utilize new technologies. One such example is the introduction of Steam Express microwave steaming bowl products formulated and packed to ensure maximum retention of flavor, color, texture, vitamins and minerals. The company also stirred up the retail soup market with a microwaveable range of co-branded Delhaize-Crop’s frozen soup offerings in 2005. The early rollout of Fruit Smoothies in advance of most of its rivals is another example of the company’s ability to skillfully gear up production and sales departments to quickly address emerging market trends. But at the same time it was stressed that the frozen food industry must redouble efforts to counter competition from the chilled and so-called “fresh” sector. “We must repeat the message over and over that fresh-frozen products lock in flavor, vitamins and minerals, and are fresher than chilled,” he asserted. Bruno Bonduelle on 1992 All was well at Groupe Bonduelle when QFFI interviewed President and Director General Bruno Bonduelle for the April 1990 issue. With much bombast over the promise of post-1992 integration of European markets and what it held for food companies doing business on the Continent, the Lille, France-based frozen and canned vegetable company executive was not worried. “We have been living in Europe without frontiers now for 20 years,” he said. “The main areas of change will be banks and transport. What I hope will happen is a single currency for Europe, because it is very difficult to conduct business when one must change money every day.” Pointing with pride to a small European Union flag in his office, he continued: “We produce in Spain to sell in England, and in England to sell in Spain; in Flanders for Germany; elsewhere in Belgium for Portugal. Life for us in 1993 should be much easier. Trade between different European states will increase. “At the same time, I doubt that non-EEC countries have anything to fear, as barriers against outsiders are not likely – certainly not in respect to frozen vegetables. After all, their limited added value makes them difficult to export to most agricultural nations in the first place. However, Japan is a special case because it cannot grow enough vegetables at home to meet rising demand.” d’Arta: ‘New Kids on the Block’
When Johan Talpe and Jean-Pierre De Backere went to the bank more than 20 years ago looking for an investment partner to help fund a new frozen vegetable processing company, loan officers at first looked at their application with doubtful eyes. With almost a dozen well-established companies already on the scene in the agriculturally fertile West Flanders region of Belgium, the bankers were not at all sure that newcomers could succeed in such a crowded field. But this diligent duo had some novel ideas about production and logistics modernization that made the financiers want to hear more. “We told them that there would be room in the market for another supplier, provided high quality products and excellent service were offered, and that packing took place in a state-of-the-art production plant,” recalled Talpe. “In those days,” added De Backere, “technologically innovative, start-to-finish systems automation was regarded as an unnecessary expense among most producers, many of whom relied on what was then still relatively inexpensive and plentiful labor. Our way of thinking was completely to the contrary.” The two entrepreneurs were thoroughly convinced that the time was ripe for the entry of a company with a new approach to operations. Having already worked in the frozen vegetable industry for a decade or so, De Backere had plenty of experience on the production side of the business. Talpe’s skills in sales and marketing provided important complimentary expertise needed to triumph in a highly competitive environment. Equally impressed with the business proposal and the keen enthusiasm of its authors, the bankers issued the first in a series of loans to finance the startup company’s ambitious growth plans. Thus, in 1988 d’Arta was born. Less than a year later, a newly constructed plant with capacity to pack 20,000 tons of finished product came on line in Ardooie. Expansion has been ongoing ever since, and today the company employs 180 people working at two factories in Belgium. In 1997 d’Arta invested in a production plant in Portugal. Cumulatively they packed approximately 100,000 tons of mono products, vegetable mixes and value-added ready meals last year. From the beginning, d’Arta offered buyers its proprietary Greens brand as well as private labels. As sales climbed on industrial, foodservice and retail fronts, the directors made sure to sow seeds that would germinate into even greener fields of opportunity down the road. Along the way, they steadfastly followed a road map that led to success through a combination of steady reinvestment in equipment and production capacity, strict adherence to product quality standards, and delivery of top-level service to clients. At d’Arta, which to this day is owned and operated by two families, working hard and smart to produce top-quality products for demanding customers is multiplied by two generations of talent. In addition to the founder-directors, members of the executive management team are Karel Talpe, Pieter De Backere, Dries Talpe and Steven De Backere. The Inventive Bob Prakken
Where would the frozen food industry be today without constant innovation and advancement in freezing systems, processing equipment and packaging lines? It would surely be much less efficient. But the creativity of problem-solving engineers, designers and technically-talented entrepreneurs has seen to it down the decades that progress has marched onward and upward at a relatively steady pace. As a young industrial engineer working for Dupont de Nemours during the mid-1960s, BluePrint Automation founder Bob Prakken introduced the company’s first standard costing and budgeting system outside the United States for the Orlon, Lycra and Delrin factories in the Netherlands. He also served as area industrial engineer for the Delrin operation before moving on to join Florigo Apparatenfabrieke in 1966, where he worked his way up to technical and sales director over the course of fourteen years. During that time he transformed the company from its status as a Dutch industrial fryer manufacturer with mainly national business, into a well reputed international supplier of complete program root vegetable processing and frying equipment. Prakken was instrumental in numerous innovations that originated at Florigo, ranging from the IBVL counter flow washer/blancher for reduced water consumption and IBVL vacuum fryers that make use of late-season potatoes, to the zonal flow fryer for improved control of the final frying stage, to high pressure steam peeler refinements designed to reduce yearly peel losses from an average of 18% to 12%. But it is in the field of end-of-line case packing systems where Prakken made his biggest mark in the food processing industry, after branching out on his own in 1980 to start a design and consultancy office in Woerden, Holland. “Nobody was interested in investing in my idea for case packing, as for many years it was regarded as a mechanical or technical problem that could not be solved. So there was no choice except to establish my business and work independently on finding solutions that involved total processes,” said the entrepreneur. Interestingly, Prakken’s first patent application was actually for a bag seal checker. “Without a quality check on the products that are placed into the case, you can’t go much further with any degree of efficiency,” he pointed out. Some of BluePrint Automation’s first customers for case packing non-rigid container systems were the early pioneers of the European and Canadian frozen potato and vegetable processing industries – among them McCain Foods and Farm Frites. Prakken built a factory in Woerden in 1983, and set up a subsidiary in the USA four years later to handle growing business in North America. In 1998 a 40,000-square foot factory came on line in Virginia, and in 2000 a new engineering, sales and assembly center opened in the Netherlands.
The BluePrint Group, now in its second generation of family leadership with Bob’s son Martin in command as chief executive officer, has made over 2,000 installations worldwide during the last 29 years. Paul van der Meulen, the company’s capable managing director, is intent on seeing to it that this pattern of sales success is continued for a long time to come. Aviko BV got into business in 1962, when 32 potato farmers in the Archterhoek region of the Netherlands banded together to start their own factory in Hoog-Keppel. Tired of being victimized by soft demand and weak producer prices for fresh table potatoes, they embraced the budding chilled french fry market with a “can-do” entrepreneurial spirit. Not long thereafter they entered the frozen food sector with as much vigor. Today the Steenderen-headquartered company, a unit of Royal Cosun, ranks as the number two European supplier of frozen potato products. It annually processes upwards of 1.4 million tons of spuds, yielding 700,000 tons of french fries and specialty items. Active for some time in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in the Russian Federation, it has been producing french fries in Poland at a joint venture plant with Farm Frites since 1994. Gerrit de Bruijne got the idea of shifting from farmer to industrialist while touring the USA in 1968. Visiting Idaho, North Dakota and other potato-abundant states, he was impressed by the sight of farmers adding value to their harvests by transforming raw materials into pre-fried french fries that were frozen in small adjunct factories that they owned and operated. Upon returning to Oudenhoorn, Holland, the tiller-turned entrepreneur geared up to the point where a maximum of 3,000 kilos of chilled potatoes could be packed daily by hand. Mechanization followed, and with it the birth of Farm Frites BV came in 1971. Today it ranks as the third largest frozen and chilled potato manufacturer and marketer in Europe. In 1969 McCain Foods opened its first processing plant outside of Canada in Scarborough, England. Frozen french fries were the only product initially produced at the 102,000-square foot facility, which had capacity for 400 tons of potatoes per day. The plant incorporated the largest frozen french fry production line outside of North America, and was designed so that there would be complete duplication of the production line. Harrison and brother Wallace McCain were chief architects of a diversified international food business built on a solid foundation of frozen french fry production that began in Atlantic Canada back in 1957. Today the company operates some 55 factories around the world, stretching from North and South America to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. In addition to value-added spuds of all kinds, it packs a wide line of products ranging from ready meals and snacks, to appetizers, vegetables, juices, egg rolls, cakes and other desserts. The roots of success for the McCain brothers were anchored deep in the fertile potato fields of the New Brunswick province of Canada. Sons of a seed potato exporter, they became entrepreneurs and champions of business globalization long before the term was invented. They were citizens of the world, and fiercely proud Canadians to the core. Quick Frozen Foods International has published a number of in depth McCain Foods story sections since the company ventured across the Atlantic. This writer was fortunate to have conducted many interviews with Harrison before he passed away in 2004 at the age of 76. During the last session, at a time when his health was in decline, the pragmatic McCain Foods Chairman revealed how his company managed to double sales volume every five years or so to become the $64 billion company that it was at the time: “The strategy is simple,” he said. “Grow new markets and get bigger shares in markets that are already grown.” Those words are much easier said than done for most captains of industry. For straight-talking Harrison McCain, it was just a matter of fact. “Every year we write out a strategy plan. It’s nearly always the same, though a few words are changed here and there,” he continued. “Two words that are never changed, however, are these: ‘Pursue Profitability!’ Profitable growth, preferably in the double-digit range, is what we are interested in achieving. Not just profit, and not just growth -- but both.” Today there is still a McCain family member at the helm in Florenceville, New Brunswick – Allison McCain, who succeeded Harrison in 2003. He is only the second person to chair the company, which has grown from a single french fry plant staffed by 30 people in 1957, into a global food processing powerhouse with more than 20,000 employees and 55 production facilities on six continents. French Output Exceeds Demand In the still pre-swinging ’60s, M. Bachman, director of the French Quick Freezing Institute, reported that production was larger than consumption and that consumer buying was slow. Output in 1961 was estimated at 15,107 tons, of which approximately 20% was in vegetables. Only four companies were producing pre-cooked products at the time, the largest sector being fish. However, optimism was high, and by 1965 production was reported to be 45,397 tons, with 25,729 tons of that in poultry and 10,361 in vegetables. Consumption by then had risen to 105,000 tons, according to Jean Bamberger, president of FICUR. This suggested that overproduction was a thing of the past, as imports were required to supply more than half of the frozen food market in France. As early as 1962 frozen dinners were sold in the United Kingdom, where at least 16 foil tray meals varying from beef to hamburger to chicken, turkey and macaroni with cheese were in distribution. In Italy during this period, consumption of frozen foods was around 8,000 tons per annum, with some 2,000 stores equipped with freezer cabinets. Findus was building a plant near Rome, and the Italian government was taking a keen interest in boosting vegetable and fruit output in the nation’s south. In Holland, the Iglo brand replaced Vita, and the first manager of the Dutch operation was Mr. Van der Meer. In 1965 Iglo Feinfrost in Germany said auf wiederschen to its old logo, which featured the Birds Eye bird, replacing it with a stylized fork. The German Unilever unit also said goodbye to “Mr. Kraut,” a pipe smoking spokesman wearing a mustache and hat. Meanwhile, it was reported that food fairs were losing out in Germany as the primary vehicle for introducing new frozen food products to the marketplace. This was due to a surge in direct consumer advertising and promotion. Further Developments in UK
Even an economic recession in 1966 could not halt growth of the industry, and Birds Eye – where sales were up 21% – had become the world’s largest frozen food company. Findus was gaining, but not at the expense of Birds Eye – instead it had displaced Eskimo for second place. Eskimo, once a leading brand in itself but by 1965 part of the Fropax and Frood line, was destined for oblivion. Two other brands, Tempo and Smedleys, would soon fall by the wayside. In 1969, while addressing a food symposium in Geneva, Birds Eye UK Chairman James R. Parratt remarked: “When it comes to frozen food, European technical research is quite as good as that of America. It is in the development of that research into actual sales that the Americans score very highly. This is due to an attitude of mind which embraces urgency, and a greater willingness to take risks than can usually be found in Europe.” Parratt also cited the example of irregular purchases of frozen vegetables which was investigated. It developed that the consumer was under the impression frozen vegetables in boxes were expensive, and it was also discovered that they equated poly bags with economy. A switch was made to bags and sales immediately increased. The Birds Eye chairman added that fish sticks, which were first developed in the USA, never achieved their full potential because product quality was allowed to slip. In England greater effort was devoted to product improvement and to more economical means of production, with the result that fish fingers, as they are known in that market, became the biggest frozen item in Britain 40 years ago.
Meanwhile, Findus and Fropax had now merged, but the devaluation of the British pound made it difficult for Findus on the Continent to continue to export to the UK, and as such it became necessary to build their own plants. Eventually, only the Findus label survived, as Fropax was phased out. More than half of the grocery business in the UK was being conducted through self-service stores. QFFI editorialized: “We can only warn the British industry that the growth of supermarkets and multiple chains is not an unmixed blessing. Emerging private labels will serve to tempt processors, now selling their own labels, to pack for them.” On the foodservice front, the catering division of Ross had made giant strides and now pretty well controlled that end of commerce. It had, however, suffered some trouble in the trawler end of the business. John Ross resigned and Alex Alexander became operating head. Elsewhere, Smedley Ltd. had finally sold out to the Imperial Tobacco Co., which was later to acquire the Ross Group. James Muirhead, one of England’s main importers, was another progressive company on the scene. The firm Muirson, meanwhile, was run by his son Hamish Muirhead. Also, Michael Knee, former director of Impex, had formed his own company. With Harry Curtis on the scene some time later, it became one of England’s outstanding importers, Curtis, Knee & Co. Birds Eye UK celebrated its 25th Silver Anniversary in 1970, and the occasion was marked with a 60-page advertorial special published in the July issue of Quick Frozen Foods International. It came out around the same time that QFFI Publisher E.W. Williams released the book Frozen Foods, Biography of an Industry, a personal reminiscence of how the business grew to become a major international force. Expansion of the industry had not gone unnoticed by the United Nations, as its International Trade Center in Geneva published an analysis entitled Western European Markets for Frozen Foods. Among other things, the volume advised companies in developing nations to tap into demand in Western countries by freezing products unavailable or in short supply in the EU, North America and Japan that could command good prices paid with hard currency. In July of 1972 Birds Eye Chairman Parratt, who had been the company’s helmsman for 16 years, retired. He was succeeded by his second in command, Kenneth J.B. Webb, who held the post until 1979. Not long thereafter, Webb became a regular contributor to the pages of Quick Frozen Foods International, writing a much-read column entitled “Ken Webb’s Corner” until his death in 1996. “When Ken Webb left an attractive sales job at Hudson & Knight in 1954 to join Birds Eye as general sales manager, people thought he was bananas,” wrote E.W. Williams in a tribute to Webb that appeared in the January 1997 issue of QFFI. “Birds Eye was then a struggling operation with a volume of only 100 tons a week. Frozen food in the UK had a poor image, and few retailers were willing to invest in cabinets. Twenty-five years later, when Ken retired as chairman of Birds Eye, it was a £225 million company in an £800 million industry, with weekly sales of nearly 5,000 tons.” Webb was a born salesman, and in his early years at Birds Eye he wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Supermarkets would buy and install cabinets at his urging, and when Birds Eye had a new range, the only option he’d give them was how many cases they would order. As marketing operations director beginning in 1959, he founded the Birds Eye Marketing Group, and was responsible for such brilliant ideas as Captain Birds Eye, the old salt in ads who introduced the country to fish fingers and other frozen seafood products. E.W. Williams Passes On
Sadly, the passing of another legend of the frozen food industry followed that of Ken Webb all too closely. On March 31, 1996, Quick Frozen Foods International magazine founder E.W. Williams died just one month short of his 89th birthday. But his spirit lives on within and without the office of QFFI to this day. “Always give the reader more than is expected,” Williams often told his editors during post-press meetings, when he would carefully review copies of the latest issue from cover to cover. In the course of a career that spanned almost six decades and seven seas, the name E.W. Williams became synonymous with the frozen food business around the world. Before any trade associations existed to promote the industry, he organized the first frozen food convention. It took place in Chicago during 1939. Some 50 exhibitors took part, and more than 300 delegates attended the luncheon to hear Williams deliver the keynote address. “They paid $1 a plate,” he recalled, “which was a lot of money to pay in those days to hear an editor pontificate.” In the room was Edwin Gibson, the first president of what was then the Birds Eye division of General Foods, which would set the pace for the frozen food industry’s rapid expansion in the United States for many years to come. He would often credit Williams’ insights for pointing the way for his company’s profitable direction. Williams would go on to have close relationships with executives of Birds Eye and other major pioneering frozen food companies on both sides of the Atlantic, as he interviewed them regularly on their home turf.
The movers and shakers of Findus, which was also a leading European frozen food force in the early days, were equally impressed with the breadth and depth of E.W. Williams’ knowledge. So were the bosses of McCain Foods, Daloon, Frigoscandia, Groko, Hottlet & Co., apetito, FRoSTA and Schne-frost, to name just a handful. “I got more out of Ed’s visits to my office than one could possibly learn at any first-rate business school,” recalled Ken Webb. Interestingly, Williams left the magazine business for several years after selling his company to Cahners Publishing Co. in 1966. Cahners subsequently sold both the Quick Frozen Foods domestic and international titles to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ), which ultimately sold QFFI back to Williams. “I was too young for retirement and got a real good deal from HBJ that I just could not refuse,” recalled the publisher. “It was like returning to my first love. You can go home again, after all.” Shortly after the death of E.W. Williams, the passing of another Quick Frozen Foods International heavyweight occurred. Sam Martin, longtime editor of the magazine, died at age 76 in New Jersey. Over the years Martin was regarded as one of the leading US authorities on the frozen food industry. He was a frequent speaker at industry meetings, and was an untiring researcher. In 1960 he originated the Frozen Foods Almanac that – in a much changed format – is still an annual feature of QFFl. Frigoscandia In 1963, Swedish entrepreneur Tore Lauritzson was already an important factor in the growing cold storage warehousing business in Europe. Having built plants in England, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and other countries, he expanded into the production of freezing units for loose-flowing products. A chemical engineer by training, his versatile genius had resulted in the birth of a sister company, Frigoscandia Contracting, which acted as a contractor and installed freezing equipment. More than a decade earlier Lauritzson was determined to become Europe’s leading builder of low temperature warehouses and to grow along with the expansion of the frozen food business on the Continent. After several setbacks, he hooked up with Jarl Malmros, a ship owner who believed in him and his ideas, and who made it possible to build the first cold storage plant in 1950 in Helsingborg. “On his desk in the office of the newly built coldstore in Helsingborg was a sign with this inscription,” recalled Leif Rynnel, a longtime Frigoscandia marketing executive who retired in 2002: Business is a game for grownups.
In short order, Frigoscandia grew in the fields of commercial coldstores, refrigerated transport and industrial freezing in many countries throughout the world. This was in no small part due to the able assistance of Per-Oskar Persson, who joined the company in 1958 as its technology and sales director after teaching at Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology, where he was a professor for more than nine years. Persson not only developed close contact with key players in the frozen food industry all over the world, but came up with the idea of starting a contracting division which would provide complete package deals for both coldstore operators and frozen food producers. While Clarence Birdseye, who is regarded as the “father” of the frozen food industry for applying scientific theory to an Eskimo technique for quick-freezing fish and adapting it to high-volume mechanized production, it was Persson’s design of IQF freezer systems which became the “mother” of half of the world’s frozen food production. Known affectionately as “Mr. Frigoscandia” to business associates around the world, and as POP (for his initials) among friends and professional colleagues, Persson was a successful man of commerce as well as an inventor. It was his first patent for fluidized bed IQF freezing that led to construction of the FLo-FREEZE prototype, which in turn became the basis for Frigoscandia Contracting AB. For many years the company (now a unit of JBT FoodTech) has ranked as the world’s leader in supplying in-line freezing systems to the food industry. Over the years Persson served as managing director of Frigoscandia Contracting, executive vice president of the Frigoscandia Group, technical director at Frigoscandia, and a board member of several Frigoscandia companies. He was awarded the Food Prize by the Swedish Society of Food Technology in 1966, and a Gold Medal by the Academy of Engineering Sciences in 1970. At the XVIIth International Congress of Refrigeration in Vienna, “Mr. Frigoscandia” was honored yet again, this time with the 1987 Ottesen Gold Medal for “outstanding contribution in the service of the refrigeration industry.” In 2001, he received this magazine’s Golden Ice Crystal Lifetime Achievement Award. Persson was an extraordinary motivator of people – and not only those with whom he worked, but food industry customers as well. “His leadership style was marked by teamwork, and he gave his often young staff very much freedom, but always with responsibility,” recalled Goran Löndahl, a Frigoscandia veteran who was hired by Persson in 1960 and worked with him for many years. “He was not just the head, but more so a father figure to many of us. Mistakes were accepted and forgiven, and this only led to knowledge.” Persson never really retired from working, as he consulted with former teammates and associates until the very end. Furthermore, during his later years he embarked on a brand new career by starting up an engineering company dedicated to freezing blood plasma for the health care sector. Today the technology is utilized throughout Scandinavia and further afield. The Frigoscandia founding father, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 84, was saluted on September 1, 2009, during a Memorial Seminar held at IVA, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, in Stockholm. Among others, JBT FoodTech division manager Torbjörn Arvidsson and Göran Löndahl, the company’s former research and development manager, participated. |
