Bakker Barendrecht

An important fruit and vegetable partner for Albert Heijn is the Dutch company Bakker Barendrecht.
Bakker Barendrecht was founded in 1930 as a fair trade fruit and vegetable company (Bakker
Barendrecht, 2024). Bakker Barendrecht is also part of the Belgian fruit and vegetable company
Greenyard. This is a large concern that operates worldwide in the various segments of the fresh
produce world such as, frozen, chilling and preparation (Greenyard, 2024). In the Netherlands,
Bakker Barendrecht has two locations and both are located in Barendrecht, giving the company a
strong presence in a key location within the fruit and vegetable business. Together, these locations
employ around 800 people (Bakker Barendrecht, 2024).

Bakker Barendrecht and Albert Heijn

Albert Heijn and Bakker Barendrecht have been working together since 1960, with Bakker
Barendrecht currently being the exclusive supplier for Albert Heijn's fruit and vegetables (Bakker
Barendrecht, 2024). Over all these years, this has grown into a strategic partnership in which Bakker
Barendrecht buys all fruit and vegetables for Albert Heijn, and together they fill around five million
plates a day. Both companies try to do this by working worldwide with a fixed group of farmers or
growers and entering into long-term contracts with them. A strategic partnership involves a
collaboration between two companies. This does not involve a legal partnership or business
relationship. Both parties join forces to achieve a certain goal (Kim, 2022). In the case of Bakker
Barendrecht and Albert Heijn, this is that this partnership gives Albert Heijn a much bigger market
because of Bakker Barendrecht connections in the fruit and vegetable world. These companies also
took the historic decision in the 1980s to work directly with growers instead of through the auction.
This created a grower organisation called Holland Crop. This ensures a shorter chain and the
beginning of a close, sustainable and fruitful network with passionate growers. Besides a branch in
the Netherlands, Bakker Barendrecht also has a branch in the Czech Republic and the company has
also been a strategic partner for Delhaize in Belgium and Luxembourg since 2019 (Bakker
Barendrecht, 2024).