"We will become the main Dutch santini specialist"

Van Helvoort Chrysanten (VHC) is focusing increasingly more on santinis. Next year 10 of their total of 12.5 hectares will be planted with them and the grower will expand its current range of 16 varieties to 20. This is what Evert Van Helvoort told a group of traders and relations last Friday during the open house in Brake, the Netherlands.

In the meantime sons Evert, Henk and Frans share the helm with father Gert, who started growing chrysanthemums year round 24 years ago, along with his wife Henja. Evert made a brief presentation of the history and vision of the company and also addressed VHC's vision on contemporary market developments, especially those in relation to the florists clock. He indicated confidence in the future of FloraHolland and the clock, also with regard to the sales of the own santinis.

Marien Kuijntjes has been with the company for a couple of years now and during that time has been partly responsible for boosting sales. He discussed the company’s marketing and sales plans: "We don’t have one particular sales strategy: we think and steer along with every customer, big or small, as much and as well as we can." Obviously this does not mean that VHC isn’t thinking about tomorrow’s sales. Marien and colleagues intend to do more in E-commerce and also provide ready-made products. Furthermore, Marien confirmed the intention expressed by Evert to - besides the direct lines -always have a fixed offering for the clock.

As already indicated, the company aims to present itself more and more as the main Dutch santini specialist in the coming years. The gentlemen see much room for expansion and expect demand to continue to grow in the coming years – particularly from the retail sector and Eastern Europe. In addition, VHC plants to expand its acreage if the opportunity arises.

On an annual basis VHC produces about 50 million santini stalks and 6.5 million spray chrysanthemums. The grower buys foliage, gerberas and several other products to create floral arrangements. The name Greenova, which rapidly acquired the necessary prominence in the market thanks to the introduction of the GreenTrick, will be maintained: "The GreenTrick adventure ended prematurely due to circumstances, but the name still expresses what we want to be: green and innovative."