Bakkerij Fuite

Bakkerij Fuite is a family bakery which started life in IJsselmuiden then relocated to Apeldoorn. The company has 55 permanent and 25 flexible employees who together process about 10.000 tons of flour per year. Fuite works for retail and industrial processors such as sandwich makers all over Europe. In the Netherlands it supplies Boni supermarkets and the new online supermarket PicNic. 

“We flew to Italy for an appointment with a buyer”, Klaas Fuite explains. “When we arrived we found out that he’d forgotten about the meeting. That was a huge letdown, but they arranged a replacement. During the conversation we found out this was the managing director himself. We gave him our quotation to supply frozen bread but during the talk wecalculated that fresh delivery would be much cheaper, pulling the rug from under our original quote. The director went off to study our calculations and eventually opted for the fresh bread. He was so impressed with Fuite that they now take half their bread from us.” It is Klaas Fuite’s best export experience. 

At the moment, 30% of production is destined for export. Fuite sells to Germany, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Italy, Spain and more recently Dubai. Company growth in recent years has largely been due to export; the Dutch market has been stable or shrinking for years. “This is partly due to the fact that Dutch people focus mainly on the price and would rather eat bad food if it’s cheaper than spend a bit more on good food. In Italy and Spain they don’t understand that. In Italy you should not come along with a Dr.Oetker pizza, you might as well pack your bags immediately,” says Klaas Fuite, summarising the difference in eating cultures. “We are also seeing another trend, an increase in the number of moments people eat; in many countries it is no longer three times a day, but six. They eat small, healthy snacks in between which we can take advantage of with, for example, small sandwiches.” 

Looking ahead, Klaas Fuite wants to earmark half the production for export, a real possibility because there is still potential for growth in Southern Europe and the Scandinavian countries.

Export countries: Germany, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Italy, France, Spain and Dubai