ThinkTank2020

‘’I’ve learned a lot during the sessions and watched closely how other entrepreneurs are doing and I have come to surprising discoveries’’, says Peter Strijk. ‘’You always think: the way you do it yourself is the right way, isn’t it? It really gave me new insights, and so I came into contact with Cosun and we started extracting. The desired result has not yet been achieved, but perhaps in the future. Other entrepreneurs do things slightly differently and that is interesting to see and hear.”

Peter Strijk, founder of Dutch Soy, attended the three sessions organized by The Protein Cluster in collaboration with Denktank2020 of Oost NL at the end of last year and early this year, as part of FOOD2020. In these sessions, the proteins themselves, the possible applications and their marketing were discussed. Since Dutch Soy grows soy locally in the Netherlands, participating in this ThinkTank was a good match.

Edamame, soy from Dutch soil

‘’ ’Dutch Edamame’. We chose this name because it sounds a lot more positive than soy. We have noticed that soy has a negative image in the Netherlands. We grow everything in the Netherlands and we do this well-regulated. The most important thing for us now is that the soy has been planted April/May and can be harvested again in August. The majority is organic. Even when organic produce come from other countries, people sometimes raise their doubts and that is not the case with us. It is a pure product, people can see it grow themselves.”

 

‘’I’ve learned to look with different eyes’’

‘’The ThinkTank meetings helped me to take a different look at processes within our company. I enjoy taking a look at others in their company. You come across new things and gain different insights. I really miss this now because of the corona crisis and I hope that this will all be possible soon. Of course there are also online tours and appointments, but that is different. The smell, the feeling and the environment do so much with your experience. I really learn a lot from that. For example, we were allowed to take a look in the kitchen at Stegeman. We know Stegeman mainly as meat producer, but what I found very surprising there is the fact that they also look to a future with less meat and it’s alternatives. Perhaps in the future we can look together to develop a snack with soy.”

Quality per grower still very different

“The challenge for us is to increase the quality per grower somewhat, which differs still much. Our growers are not far from each other and they have the same type of soil, so that can’t be the difference. However, soy is also not an onion or potato. Soy is a new crop in the Netherlands, so some research is still needed. There are differences per grower and thus we will continue to investigate how we can improve quality. We have not been in the business for that long, so it’s nice to explore the possibilities.”

Collaborations

Peter looks back with pleasure on the ThinkTank sessions: “I met very nice people, all with their own expertise. This can lead to great collaborations, some of which have already been started up. However, the current corona crisis has put a lot on the back burner. We also had nice test field collaborations, but they are also on hold. This is quite an exciting time and needs some attention. I have agreed with several contacts that we will be in touch again in June to see how things are going then.”

“People are going to buy much more locally and that is positive”

“Because of the corona crisis, we now consult with colleagues a lot by having video calls. We work from home and I don’t think we’ll be in the office this season. We discuss what we should pay attention to, what is coming and what we are going to do. We have supplies that have to be delivered from Japan and Argentina and that is a bit of a problem now. We hope everything is here in time.”

“Also the food chain is a bit different currently. There are many local initiatives, although the Netherlands is an export-dependent country. Right now, much more attention is being paid to which companies and initiatives can be ‘supported’ locally; there is customer goodwill.”

Starting new initiatives

“Fortunately, I am very positive and we work in the food sector together with retail therefore and we don’t notice a difference at the moment. Our customers are still there and we are also starting up some new initiatives, including a nice collaboration with a large supermarket. Unfortunately, I can’t say anything about that yet. Together with other parties we are also thinking of possibilities on the processing of our product in, for example, soups or sauces. The aftermath of the corona pandemic will take a while, but I think that this stimulates consumer to buy more locally. That’s good news for our company too.”