THERE IS SPECULOOS, AND THERE IS VERMEIREN PRINCEPS

T H E R E IS S P E C U LO O S,
AN D T H E R E I S V E R M E I R E N P RINCEP S...
. . . A RT I S A N A L S PE C U LO O S.
Our activities
Vermeiren Princeps bakes honest and delicious speculoos in the traditional way and is still using the original production process. The biscuits are baked the way grandmother and grandfather used to bake them, but with innovative technological know-how. Hence, the crispy
speculoos still has the authentic taste of the past, but is now even more delicious and healthy.
There is speculoos.
And there is Vermeiren Princeps …
… artisanal speculoos
The difference?
The fully automatic ovens bake about
1500 tons of biscuits annually: traditional speculoos, whole wheat speculoos with
real honey, fully certified organic speculoos, sugar-free almond biscuits, speculoos with real Belgian chocolate chips ...
At Vermeiren Princeps, the biscuit dough
is still slowly kneaded and moulded, with
specially developed machines that mimic
the craftsmanship of yesteryear.
Available in various types of packaging,
including individual packaging for the
catering industry, whether or not under
private label.
In fact, Vermeiren Princeps has always
been ahead of its time. The bakery has
always baked natural speculoos without
preservatives, colourings and artificial
flavours. These days everyone wants to
eat healthy and tasty food. Some remain
faithful to the traditional flavours.
Others prefer healthy,
organic or Fair Trade
products.
Then the dough is allowed to rest for 24
hours. Only then it is baked: extra slow
and at a very high temperature.
At Vermeiren Princeps all
types are equally delicious
anyway.
The authentic taste of the past without
compromise. For conscious consumers of
today, who know what they want to eat.
Last year we added another successful
product, the speculoos spread made
with the traditional Vermeiren speculoos.
Depending on the type, the speculoos is
sweetened with real brown candy sugar,
raw cane sugar or real pure honey. But
definitely not with syrups or refined sugars.
No preservatives, no artificial colouring,
no animal fats and no artificial flavours.
For Vermeiren Princeps quality always
comes first. The production process was automated in function of the product, without
compromising the artisanal quality of the
speculoos.
The theme for 2011 is further market
expansion, mainly individual packaging
and speculoos spread. Also, a luxury
segment range will be launched.
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Our export activities
A brief overview
Our history
Vermeiren has been known as a baker’s
family since 1650. Back then every baker
had his own recipe. Fat, herbs and honey
were added to the leftovers of bread
dough. The result was a full-flavoured
spice cake which could be stored for a
long time.
The Vermeiren bakery was first located in
the center of Puurs. Vermeiren was a typical village baker who, besides bread, also
baked speculoos figures. In 1919 Achilles
Vermeiren decided to only bake speculoos for ‘resellers’.
The two ridges, characteristic of a ‘Vermeiren’ speculoos, and the higgledypiggledy corners and edges have remained the trademark of the company.
Incidentally these ridges were patented as
the specific form of a Vermeiren speculoos.
Our export activities are expanding
Demand continued to grow and at the end
of the eighties the second baking line was
put into service. In 1989 the first speculoos
made with organic flour was baked.
In 1947 Achilles moved to Hingene-Bornem with his sons Albert and Arthur and
converted an old brewery into a speculoos
bakery. A year later, Albert built the first
semi-automatic oven with his own hands.
Due to the development of these organic
biscuits, export activities increased
steadily, since these biscuits had an excellent price/quality ratio. The fully automatic
production process of non-organic biscuits
could be taken over completely. Especially
in France and Italy, sales increased because of this.
At the end of the sixties this oven was replaced by new automatic oven (converted
in-house). Because with an ordinary oven
one cannot bake authentic artisanal speculoos. Therefore, Albert and Arthur carried
out a number of innovative changes.
Through the existing Belgian buyers that
also had branches in these two countries,
our products were introduced there as well.
The organic speculoos has an honest qualityprice ratio and due to this had great success
from the start.
During the fifties, the first version of speculoos came on the market: ‘Voltarwe
‘speculoos with whole-wheat flour. The
name ‘Voltarwespeculoos’ was invented
by grandfather Achilles. This speculoos did
get the same shape as the other speculoos.
Sugar-free biscuits have increased
the export exponentially
Those who follow a low sugar diet, also
want to enjoy their food. Therefore, in the
middle of the nineties sugar free biscuits
sweetened with maltitol were marketed.
This variant also had great success from
the start on foreign markets, which increased the share of the export figure
exponentially. With this range we created
new openings, apart from the traditional markets, for sales in the Middle East,
where traditionally there are many diabetics because of the greater sucrose intolerance of the population.
Our new recipes are also appreciated
abroad
Meanwhile, we also experimented with
variations on the traditional recipe. In 2000
Vermeiren Princeps surprised all gourmets with the traditional speculoos with
almonds chips or chocolate chips. These
variants are also doing very well abroad
(Japan / Australia) and especially the
link with the Belgian chocolate is important. Thanks to customized packaging for
these specific countries our products are
successful there too.
Fair Trade – speculoos, a stable foundation for success abroad
As an innovative company with the heart
in the right place Vermeiren Princeps has
been producing ‘Fair Trade’ speculoos
since 1997. Since 2005, also available with
the Max Havelaar label. Here striving for
solidarity and quality go hand in hand. In
countries like the UK where the share of
fair trade is high, this means a stable base
of success and from 2007 onwards we became less dependent on seasonal sales
(2005-2006).
Individual packaging is the recipe for
further export growth
In 2006, Vermeiren Princeps introduced individually wrapped speculoos. Now you can
also enjoy a delicious speculoos with your
cup of coffee or tea in catering establishments.
Also here the sales are mainly generated
abroad. Amongst others, Spain is a real
success story. Since the biscuits are sold
under the Vermeiren brand name, this
contributes to the international brand
recognition and our products also find
their way to the retail business and thus
the necessary rotation is assured.
Our speculoos spread is conquering the
world
The successful product of the last two years
is the speculoos spread. It is still a largely
Belgian story, but in the meantime there has
been quite an international interest with
markets in South Africa, the United States,
Netherlands and France.
The seven types of speculoos and biscuits
are still baked in the bakery in Bornem. The
two fully automatic baking lines bake 1500
tonnes annually for customers at home and
abroad.
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Vermeiren’s strategy is built on three pillars: innovation, flexibility and
quality. Our unique, high quality biscuits in sophisticated packaging
appeal to new markets and customers.
In 2004, Vermeiren introduced individually wrapped biscuits. Because
of the great success, we tripled capacity in 2009 by investing in a fully
automated packaging system.
Consumers at home and abroad are increasingly aware of the importance of healthy and above all pure nutrition and therefore opt for Vermeiren speculoos, because it is a 100% plant-derived product and thus
contains no milk, eggs or animal fat and no colourings, flavourings or
sweeteners.
As an innovative company with the heart in the right place Vermeiren
Princeps produces ‘Fair Trade’ speculoos with the Max Havelaar label. In
countries like the UK where the share of Fair Trade is high, this means a
stable base of success and therefore we are less dependent on seasonal
sales.
Due to the steady growth in turnover and customer base, Vermeiren
experienced an acute lack of space. This will be solved in 2011 with
the completion of a 2652 m2 warehouse for packaging materials and
finished products. In the future, the warehouse will also serve as a
production space.
Since early this year Vermeiren has started developing a luxury segment. The famous Vermeiren Belgian Speculoos is now available in
the shape of typical Bruges houses which together constitute a whole
street.
Innovation
Launching new products
Vermeiren Princeps responds to attractive growth markets such as the organic
and the Fair Trade market.
Since the term ‘speculoos’ is not known
in all countries, this way the speculoos
products are becoming better known.
In 2007, two additional organic products
were launched in customized multilingual packaging.
Also high- volume markets such as the
catering industry have in recent years developed an interest due to the launch of a
range of individually wrapped biscuits,
which are particularly successful mainly
in export markets. Also the launch of Vermeiren speculoos spread is an innovation
valued by our export markets.
Sustainability
Targeted participation in research
projects
In view of the future, especially the changing dietary habits of the consumers, our
company has participated for 3 years in
research projects on sugar and fat reduction, organized by Flanders Food,
the competence pool for the Flemish food
industry.
At present we are participating in the
research project on the use of Stevia,
a pure plant derived sweetener with a
sweetening power 300 times higher than
that of sucrose. This creates the opportunity in the foreseeable future to market
a 100% plant-derived biscuit, without added sugar (and without artificial
sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame,
acesulfame-K, without polyols).
Sustainability is a strategic mission
‘Producing high quality products that
are as natural and healthy as possible,
in a sustainable manner, nutritionally
balanced, and at a competitive and realistic price’.
Sustainable entrepreneurship also
means innovation.
We are collaborating with machine
manufacturers to study how portioned
packaging can improve the ecological
footprint of current food production.
Studies show that on average only 75%
of food in large packages is consumed.
Contrary to what is assumed, the ecological footprint of portioned packaging
(with more packing materials) is much
smaller than the ecological footprint of
non-consumed food.
Moreover, it is of the utmost importance
for the consumer and the stakeholder
that the growing world population is
fed in the most efficient way, an interest which coincides with the need to be
careful with our earth.
This will also in the future have a positive
impact on employment, as was already
the case in the past.
Stevia
Sustainable consumption of
raw materials
Sustainable consumption of raw materials has long been a full-fledged
theme in our company: by separating
waste (paper/cardboard, plastics, wood,
metal, food waste processed into animal
feed), we succeeded in limiting the nonrecyclable waste to an average of 100
kg a week and this with a total production of 1500 tonnes / year.
Furthermore Vermeiren invested in solar
panels to generate electricity.
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Our export activities
Marketing
Website
Our website is mainly export-oriented with detailed information (with separate access for customers via login to consult e.g.
technical data sheets).
Future prospects
• Opportunities in retail. For this purpose we achieved the
British Retail Consortium Certification last year, which is
necessary to be able to sell to retail businesses globally.
Principles of our export policy
• Participationinmajor international trade fairs
• ISMInternationalSweetsandBiscuitsFair-Cologne
• ANUGA:thelargestinternationalfoodexhibitionintheworld-
Cologne
• SIAL:leSalonInternationaldel’Agroalimentaire-Paris
• SIRHA:leSaloninternationaldelarestauration,del’hôtellerieetde
l’alimentation-Lyon
• IFE:InternationalFoodandDrinkExhibition-London
• GULFOOD:TheGulfFood,HotelandEquipmentExhibition-Dubai
• FOODEX:SpecializedfoodexhibitionforAsia-Tokyo
• FOOD&HOTELTRADESHOW-Singapore
Vermeiren ‘s awards
Vermeiren
nominated for the
2010
‘LeeuwvandeExport’
award
Vermeiren speculoos spread winner of
theGoldenArcherAward2009
The Vermeiren Princeps Speculoos spread
has been named the 2010 winner in the
segment of spreads and jams by the Belgian Committee for Distribution !
The ‘Golden Archers’ are presented
annually by the Belgian Committee for
Distribution and its magazine ‘Distributie vandaag’ (Distribution Today).
2010
In 2010 Vermeiren already took part
in the “Leeuw van de export” and was
then one of the nominees.
This prize is awarded to new food and
non-food products that are not only the
most innovative and deliver the best performance, but also please the consumers
because they meet their expectations for
innovation and quality.
The jury is composed of +/- 250 purchasing
and sales managers of Belgian distribution
companies.
This Vermeiren Speculoos spread is
prepared using the same authentic
speculoos recipe upon which Vermeiren Speculoos has built its excellent
reputation since 1919.
For the speculoos spread we kept the authentic flavour of the biscuit, with only the
finest natural ingredients (real blonde candy sugar and raw cane sugar) and spices.
The dough is kneaded gently and after a
night’s rest, the dough is moulded into the
well known Vermeiren biscuit and baked
slowly at high temperature.
To make the spread the biscuits are
ground into a fine powder. Pure vegetable
oils and fats are added to make the paste
spreadable.
All this while still using the traditional
artisanal production process.
And, as with Vermeiren speculoos, no
syrups, salt or animal fats, no preservatives, colourings or flavourings are
added.
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olution. Nous avons décidé d’emballer
loos. Et nous ne faisons pas les choses à
que nous emballions séparément vos
our vous. Notre désir d’hospitalité n’a pas
IREN PRINCEPS N.V.
73 - 2880 Bornem - BELGIUM
15 40 - Fax. +32 (0)3 897 15 49
ps.be - info@vermeirenprinceps.be
CRISP & CRUNCHY
SPECULOOS
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Biscuits
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VERMEIREN PRINCEPS N.V.
Klein Mechelen 73 - 2880 Bornem - BELGIUM
Phone +32 (0)3 897 15 40 - Fax. +32 (0)3 897 15 49
www.vermeirenprinceps.be - info@vermeirenprinceps.be