In Memoriam Henk Banken
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Henk Banken flanked by his sons Rob (left) and Jurgen.
Following a short illness, Henk Banken, the founder, former director, ambassador and member of the Advisory Board of Banken Champignons Group, passed away on Sunday 7 February. After starting as a mushroom grower, he laid the foundations for the immense success of the Dutch trading house.
Henk Banken was born on 8 August 1934 in Batenburg, where his father had six mushroom growing rooms. In 1956 Henk and his wife Stien also started growing mushrooms. In the early 1970s he reached a crucial turning point, when he started to market some of his produce directly and started supplying the auction in Zaltbommel. This was such a success, that he eventually star- ted to sell all the production directly and buying mushrooms from his family and fellow growers as well. He sold mushrooms on weekly markets, and sup- plied wholesalers and restaurants. A branch of supermarket chain Edah was the first retail outlet to buy mushrooms from Banken. At that time, only a few growers supplied their customers directly. Limax, Van de Berg, Hooza (later also acquired by Banken) had gone before, but Henk heralded the arri- val of the ‘grower who trades’. And that direct approach and customer focus has always remained a guiding principle at the company. Logically, more cooling and packaging facilities were needed, first in former growing rooms, later in warehousing in Bemmel, where the first real distribu- tion centre was set up. In the mid-1990s the auctions ceased operating, but Banken continued to grow, first in Elst and later in Wijchen. Banken acquired various other traders and production facilities and expanded the operations to Poland. The site in Wijchen is currently home to modern business premises covering 10,000 m2 on a site of 2.1 hectares. Banken Champignons Group now has more than 450 employees, annual turnover of €105 million and a customer base in 30 countries.
Some 25 years ago, sons Jurgen and Rob followed in their father’s footsteps. They have been at the helm of Banken for some time, although Henk remained closely involved in the business despite his age.
With the passing of Henk Banken, a unique, highly influential and innovative entrepreneur and unforgettable man whose heart and soul were devoted to mushrooms has left us. We would like to express our condolences to the Ban- ken family for their great loss.
You can share your memories of Henk at
bankenchampignons.com/nl/henkbanken.
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