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History
Joep Theeuwen, founder of F&F Europe:
‘It gives me a kick to do that kind of thing’
Kerkrade. His cradle was in Blitterswijk, a village on the Maas in Dutch Limburg. It wasn’t the first cradle in the Theeuwen household: four boys and six girls were born before little Joep made his entrance. His father had a fodder business, selling hay and straw. Joep Theeuwen went his own way and eventually set-up F&F Europe. He talks about having a feel for the product and the urge to bring ideas to the market.
Joep Theeuwen went his own way, however the way he followed didn’t deviate that much from his roots. The first mushroom growers became active in the region where Joep was born around 1954. His father supplied them with horse manure. Joep Theeuwen: “Horse manure contains urea, which is a nutrient for mushrooms.” The demand for horse manure grew so fast that Joep’s brothers, Jan and Piet, joined their father’s company in the late 1960s. This led to the establishment of Gebr. Theeuwen BV, a company that not only sold compost, but also dealt in fresh mushrooms.
1969
After completing secondary school, Joep joined a regional distribution company. He worked in the department which exported preserved foods to Germany. It was here that he came in contact with the big German buyers. Joep Theeuwen: “At some point they started to ask for preserved mushrooms. At this point my father’s contacts were very useful. I visited the bigger mushroom growers and convinced them to start producing tinned mushrooms. In the beginning this was done on a small scale, but it grew so quickly that I resigned from my job with the distribution company at the end of 1968.” 1969 was an important year for Joep Theeuwen, because in that year he got married and he founded Holland Conserven BV. That company was the first to launch mushrooms in glass on the market, mainly in Germany. Joep Theeuwen: “We were the market leaders there. What Hak did with vegetables, we did with mushrooms. That was a breakthrough. Our turnover grew quickly: from 25 million guilders to 100 million.” Joep Theeuwen set-up various other companies too. One of these companies was Monaghan Mushrooms and it’s still one of the largest producers of fresh mushrooms in Ireland. He set-up companies in Poland, France and Peru too. And everywhere the focus was on mushrooms. Except in Peru, where he produced asparagus in glass. This brings us up to 1990 – the year in which Joep Theeuwen sold all his businesses. He decided to take a sabbatical – a sabbatical which would last two years.
Ideas
“Those two years were the worst years of my life”, according to Joep Theeuwen. “I didn’t know what to do with myself anymore.” Not strange when you consider that when asked what he does in his leisure time he answers: “I’m often busy with my work day and night.” Did this not cause problems with his family life? “It wasn’t easy. I wasn’t at home much during the first twenty years of our marriage. Luckily, my wife was very understanding.” It’s clear that Joep Theeuwen didn’t really enjoy his sabbatical. So in 1992 he decided to set-up F&F Europe, together with some production people from the sector. Theeuwen: “You know the market, you know the customers, you know what you’re doing.” The process of fresh-freezing mushrooms was still in its infancy at that time, but history repeated itself: now F&F Europe is one of the world’s largest producers of fresh-frozen mushrooms. But why does Joep Theeuwen do the things he does? What motivates him? “It’s the urge to do things. Of course the profit is important, but mainly it’s the drive to do business. You have ideas, you want to launch them on the market. We were the first to launch mushrooms in glass containers on the market. And then we had the idea of freezing the mushrooms. It gives me a kick to do that kind of thing.” What are the most important qualities a person must have to be a success in business? Theeuwen: “You have to have a feel for the product. That’s very important. You have to be interested in the product. You have to know what you can do with it and what the consumer wants. Then you’re well on the way.” |
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