Our strongest asset? Our people

Spread across four factories, Agristo produces 800,000 tons of finished potato products. We use 1.2 to 1.3 million tons of potatoes, which come from a radius of 100 km around our plants in Harelbeke, Wielsbeke, Nazareth and Tilburg. So we are in the heart of the potato belt. The fact that approximately half of our frozen potato products end up in food service means that the corona crisis made itself felt enormously. The fact that we were nevertheless able to achieve good results is largely due to our employees who continued to give of their best even in difficult circumstances.

That retail did better than ever during the corona crisis sometimes gives a distorted picture that the food industry had it good during the corona pandemic and accompanying hospitality shockdown. There were certainly winners in this story, but we as producers of potato products and specialties still shared in the blows. The increase in retail sales could not fully compensate for what we lost in foodservice. After all, Belgians prefer to enjoy delicious fries in restaurants, where the portions are also measured somewhat more liberally than at home. That we were nevertheless able to keep going throughout the year is a feather in the cap of our employees.

Because there is extensive automation in our factories, the shop floor could be made coronaproof with a limited number of interventions. Respecting the distance rules was easily achievable. And those who could work from home did so as a matter of course. Adjustments that ultimately went relatively smoothly. Although the challenge for us as employers was to ensure that the connection with the shop floor was not lost. It was a constant evaluation of who needed to be where in order to keep the factories running. And supporting our people, whether they were working at home or on the shop floor, where needed. After all, a lot of flexibility was required of them. The fact that we got so much back, for example, to work in other shifts or factories when some of the employees were out, was incredibly nice. Thanks to them, we had the right skills available at all times to keep production running as efficiently.

So we literally and figuratively put them in flowers our employees. So much drive, so much commitment, we could really count on a fantastic team. A small gift in time and place, from a flower, to a jar of honey from our own bees, to a pat on the back from managers, was the least we could do in return. But this doesn't come out of the blue, either. We see investing in people as one of our strategic priorities. Most producers source their potato products from the same region as we do. The technology used in their factories has many similarities to ours. Then where we can really make a difference is our people. 

Something we are even more aware of as a family business. We start here from the deeply rooted belief that our people need to 'like' themselves, that they have the desire to stay with us. In the first place because of a pleasant atmosphere at work, but also because they are given every opportunity to develop themselves and their talents within Agristo. Training that has continued even during the difficult coronary year. That is how important we find them. Because sustainability is also a story of lasting relationships. These difficult times have already shown how that commitment makes all the difference. We look forward more than ever to seeing each other again, on the work floor, in the office, in the refectory, in the corridors, at the machine ...