Greenyard CEO Hein Deprez sees his vision of a sustainable food industry confirmed in The Future of Food, the new RetailDetail book that is already in its second edition.
The importance of local anchoring
“For me, this is the most comprehensive work I have seen to date on the many new food trends and the evolution of the sustainability aspect in the production of new food products. In addition, the book puts these trends in the context of a strongly evolving way in which food gets from the field to the consumer,” says Hein Deprez, co-CEO of fruit and vegetable specialist Greenyard. He is one of the top managers from the food industry who received the book in preview.
“All new technologies and ideas that are being studied and implemented around the world today are described very accurately with appropriate links to concrete examples. The knowledge I gain here only reinforces our view that retailers with a strong locally embedded footprint (a well spread and dense network of shops) will be able to bring the new healthy and sustainable breakfast, lunch and dinner to the table in an efficient and sustainable way.”
Laudatory comments
“The retailers who succeed in incorporating all these new products and technologies into their business model will win the attention of consumers and become the champions in completing the last mile. This book will be required reading for the top 250 people in our business,” he concludes.
More top people from the food sector have praised the book The Future of Food – A New Recipe for the Food Sector by Jorg Snoeck and Stefan Van Rompaey. Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize, wrote an afterword. Alexandre Bompard, the top man of Carrefour, also gave his reaction, just like Jef Colruyt (Colruyt Group), Koen Slippens (Sligro), Nils van Dam (Milcobel) and Wim Destoop (PepsiCo).
This was not without consequences: after only a few weeks, publisher Lannoo Campus ran out of Dutch-language copies of the book. A second edition is forthcoming. The book is available in better bookshops and the webshop, in Dutch or English. For deliveries of larger quantities in Belgium, you can order via this link. Readers in The Netherlands can order via managementboek.nl.
