EGGS ▶▶▶
“Some say our eggs taste like bacon that has been cooked with the eggs, or a nice BBQ taste has been added.”
Worldwide patent In 2019 Gijsbert decided to visit the Kos family again to learn more about the smoked eggs. He wanted to experience the taste first hand and discover the opportunities in the culinary field. He also wanted to know what the smoking process in- volved and learn more about creating a business case. Fol- lowing the visit, the Kos family phoned Gijsbert and Anneg- ien to ask whether they could help them set up a company in smoked eggs. Gijsbert: “You would expect that they would prefer to keep this technique for smoking eggs to themselves but they have taken out a worldwide patent on this special smoking process. So they receive royalties on everything we produce. With no licence required after 10 years”. The Kos family wanted to have a reliable partner in the EU, say the couple. To be able to smoke eggs, eggs needed to be sourced. So Gijsbert and Annegien went looking for a poultry farmer in the region who could supply them with eggs. They chose a regional supplier because they wanted a product with a small carbon footprint. “We ended up with poultry farmer Harrie Beekmans who lives nearby in Oirschot. He is well known in the industry,” says Gijsbert. The couple asked if the poultry farmer could supply them with brown eggs. Beek- mans also put them in contact with Jan van Baast, who has an egg packing station and can sort and pack eggs.
One star animal welfare Poultry farmer Beekmans bought plastic trays that fit precise- ly into the smoke box designed by Gijsbert and Annegien. Beekmans: “Smoked Egg Europe pays me a fair price for my eggs. I also like the idea of contributing to an innovative pro- ject”. The eggs supplied by the Oirschot poultry farmer com- ply with the Dutch ‘Beter Leven’ one star quality label of the Dutch Animal Protection organisation. In principle, both
34 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 10, 2021
white and brown eggs can be smoked but the couple has opted for brown eggs. Gijsbert: “The reason is that we think that the brown eggs are visually more attractive after the smoking process”.
Innovation loan from Rabobank In December 2019 they received the plans to instal the smok- ing system. The installation had to be done by an engineer. Gijsbert and Annegien put out a tender to get the best quota- tion and planning. Belgian engineer Wim Mostaert of Aximet submitted the best offer. Mostaert assembled the installation together with Australian engineer Jim Hocking of Unipulse. Gijsbert: “To ensure that we had the right start-up capital to be able to set up the company we applied for an innovation loan from the Rabobank. To be eligible for a Rabobank Inno- vation Loan you need to draw up a business plan and pitch your idea to Rabobank. Gijsbert: “This is a great exercise for a start-up because it forces you to make clear choices.” After the loan was granted, they officially launched the busi- ness in June 2019. It was very low profile initially, with a sim- ple prototype egg smoker in their backyard. Annegien laughs: “And that it did not go well right away. The egg smok- er was placed outside and, because of the weather, the smok- er did not run continuously. So it did not always work”. After a year of trialling the prototype, a large smoke generator and all the other equipment arrived from Belgium. Engineer Wim Mostaert assembled the large smoker. The prototype could hold 300 eggs, while the large smoke generator can hold up to 100,000 eggs. To house the new smoke generator since June 2020 the couple have rented a 400 m2
commercial site
in Drunen in the Netherlands. Gijsbert: “We first ran a test here for three days and made various adjustments until the system worked to our liking”.
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