ROBERT PEFFER

UNDERSTANDING
EACH OTHER
WITH FEW WORDS
SINCE THE EARLY
NINETIES

‘IT ALL JUST RUNS BY ITSELF’

Prochamp is the name of a leading international producer of canned mushrooms, based in Kerkdriel. The canning factory is owned by the Peffer family, as are the cultivation sites and substrate companies. Robert Peffer is in charge of substrate and mushroom production, his brother Arjan is responsible for the Prochamp canning factory. Robert’s sister Hetty is in charge of sales. What is special about this group of companies is that they’re located within a radius of a few kilometres and have control of the entire production chain.

PROGRESSIVE OUTLOOK

The shares of the large family business Prochamp are still fully owned by the Peffer family. The company goes back three generations. Robert’s grandfather started in the 1950s with a mixed farm, for livestock and for fruit and mushroom cultivation. At that time, mushrooms were still supplied as an exclusive product to private customers in Wassenaar. Robert: “My father Richard started working at his father’s business in the sixties. He had a progressive outlook and a big interest in technology. He soon realised that the production process could be much more efficient.”

THE VERY FIRST MUSHROOM HARVESTER

With an electric drill, some small wheels and a handy brother-in-law, Richard made the very first mechanical mushroom harvester. Robert: “This was later developed further in cooperation with the University of Wageningen. In 1976, my father completely took over the mushroom farm from my grandfather. In addition, he started a substrate company so that the nursery could meet its own substrate needs. Mushrooms are grown on a layer of substrate made from fermented horse manure, chicken manure, straw, gypsum and water. On top of that you put a layer of mushroom casing, which we’ve been buying from Legro for decades.”

THEIR OWN CANNING FACTORY

Robert: “Our canning factory was set up in the eighties by my father and his brother. Within a few years, it was a professional business running full time. This is also how chain integration came about: in addition to cultivation, the mushrooms were also being canned and sold independently in the company’s own production chain. This has been further professionalised over the years and has grown enormously. Our customers are now located all over the world. Our cultivation businesses have also been modernised considerably, which has enabled us to do a better job guaranteeing our product range and product quality. We recently opened another completely new cultivation site here.”

THEIR OWN SUBSTRATE

“An important part of our business operations is substrate preparation,” Robert says. “We need a lot of it, and it’s important to always have the right quality. Since we’re active on a global market, it’s important for us to produce as efficiently as possible. So we started making our own substrate in the mid-seventies. Having put the entire chain in-house, and having mechanised the cultivation facilities, we have grown into one of the top three players in Europe in the field of canned mushrooms. Our customers are mainly large retail chains, caterers and the industry. Now I’m also involved in new developments. For example, I recently set up a project to market the blanching liquid from the mushrooms. This concentrated blanching liquid is sold as a mushroom concentrate, which we supply to companies in the food industry, for example for preparation of soups and sauces, or to spice suppliers.”

ENOUGH MUSHROOM CASING OF GOOD QUALITY

“I didn’t dare say how long we’ve been relying on Legro’s expertise, because the collaboration began before my time,” Robert continues. “I asked my father and he said it’s been over thirty years.” The most important thing is that we’ve been able to rely on a constant supply of sufficient and good mushroom casing for decades. We cover the substrate with a thin layer of mushroom casing that ensures the correct water balance during growth. These are substantial volumes, easily a few hundred m3 a week, which Legro delivers to us several times a week. The great thing is that we hardly have any contact about this. It all runs by itself, which is a good sign. I talk to Eric Philipsen, our account manager, a few times a year at most. Legro is a family business like we are, with the same standards and values. So they take our partnership very seriously.”

KEEP IMPROVING

Looking to the future, Robert sees the need to keep focusing on quality. “As a global player, we face all kinds of challenges,” he explains. Like market developments, inflation, availability of labour, energy and packaging costs. That is why we have invested heavily in our substrate production, in the canning factory and recently in a new mushroom cultivation site. As a chain-integrated company, there are many aspects for us to focus on and we’re constantly working on improvements, even when it comes to year-round mushroom cultivation. As far as I’m concerned, Legro will continue to play an important role in this as the supplier of high-quality mushroom casing.”

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