By Roel Dreve
Update Euromycel SPAWN
Spawn producer Euromycel has appointed a new sales manager for Northern Europe: Jeroen Dunant. We discussed Euromycel’s market position and strategy, and the challenges at France Champignon with him, director Frédéric Mathieu, technical manager Yves Moriamez and sales director Eddy Alkemade. The latter is passing his responsibilities to Dunant.
W
e spoke to the team (see also photo content page) in the middle of the second wave of Covid-19, taking the -by
now- customary precautions. The spawn producer has barely experienced any negative effects of the pandemic, similar to the mushroom sector as a whole. Alkemade: “Some producers of large packaging and frozen mushrooms, for example, have suffered losses because of restricted export possibilities to the USA but for the sector in general the losses in the food service category have more than been compensated for by the huge surge in retail demand - an increase of 12-15%. So, it’s safe to say that our sector is corona proof!”
Growth in the Benelux Six years ago, when we visited the Euromycel headquarters in L’île-Bouchard (see MB70), Mathieu indicated that the French company was aiming to gradually grow its share of the European spawn market. Not by taking an aggressive approach but by offering a competitive, high-quality product. Alkemade, whose previous roles have included sales at Peffer/Prochamp and France Champig- non, is content with the progress made since then. “Thanks to our good working partnership with compost producer Walkro, our spawn managed to penetrate the critical Dutch mushroom sector around four years ago and is now used on the Willems farm in Kessel. And through word-of-mouth advertising you can also find strains from Euromycel on the beds at Jacobs, Sikes, Smits and Koopmans. And as well as Walkro, we now also supply Coenegrachts, Hooymans, Vedemij, Sterckx and the recently taken over CNC.” The tradition focus of Euro- mycel was the preserving industry. Mathieu: “We want to consolidate our presence in that market, but now we are more prepared for
12 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
mushroom growing for the fresh market. We have already proven our worth in Eastern Europe and have a stable track record.” According to the two, over the past five years Euromycel has noted growth in the Benelux of around 22%, which they say places Euromycel in second place in this region behind leader Sylvan.
Sales strategy
The sales strategy has also changed. “Before, growers often compared two different sub- strates (with two different strains of spawn). Today growers are more concerned with the varieties and have more control over the choice” says Alkemade. “So the idea is that our sales manager will more actively visit growers, including smaller-scale farms,” adds Mathieu. “Dutch growers are very ‘Excel-oriented’ and driven by statistics and closely monitoring their compost, cropping cycles et cetera. We need to adapt accordingly.” This will primarily be the task of Jeroen Dunant (49) from Oud Gastel in the Netherlands. With a background in horticulture (including Nifterik, Horticoop and Flora Holland) his commercial tasks mainly concentrated on selling substrates, whereas Alkemade’s background is more in the end product (mushrooms). Isn’t it difficult to engage more intensively in providing advice on growing without a specific background in mushroom cultivation? Dunant disagrees: “At my previous employers visiting primary producers to help them with cultivation and quality was also a key part of my job, and my task now is to listen to the needs of mushroom growers.” Mathieu adds: “We deliver the best possible product, but the grower is the expert. Jeroen brings more balance to our team, which in combination with more stable spawn strains, is an important mainstay of our strategy.”
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