Honig to remain truly Dutch

Honig's soups and sauces served up every evening at the dinner table are going to remain Dutch. Closing the Honig factory in Nijmegen to make way for a new housing estate led to a strenuous quest for new production sites. Whereas the trend is to shift production to low-wage countries, Honig has succeeded in retaining production in its home country.

"It is very important to us to retain production in the Netherlands," Bas Boswinkel, director at Heinz Benelux, Honig's parent company, makes clear. "Honig is a Dutch pearl that simply has to stay here. We have succeeded in being able to continue producing our top quality in the Netherlands - at competitive prices."

"We have decided to relocate production to Intertaste," Boswinkel says." This company topped the list in our selection process and fulfils the quality requirements that we set in all points to guarantee the quality of Honig as an A-brand. As a partner, Intertaste will grow along with our aims for the future. We provide the innovations and the ideas and they carry them out."

"We are naturally extremely proud that we topped the list," says Maarten Baardse, managing director of Intertaste. "We are gaining substantial additional volume for our new Utrecht factory and strengthening our relationship with an important business partner. Given the volume that we already produce here, this will be one of Europe's largest soup production facilities. Moreover, this contract will bring additional jobs into the region."

Boswinkel: "Given the scale now offered by Intertaste, we are in a position to bring new products onto the market more quickly, and we are able to realise our growth plans together."

The Honig soups available in the supermarket are being moved to the Intertaste plant in Utrecht. Soup has been made here since 1942, currently including the Royco soups for the Belgian market. Intertaste bought the factory in 2010. The Dutch company Intertaste is a leading European player, making sauces, herbs and spices for other well known brands.

Baardse: "Europa is our stamping ground. The decision by Heinz to have the Honig range made by us fits in well with this. We regard it as strengthening our position and creating the necessary scale to be able to innovate effectively with our partners."