Growing our company in 50 years
1970
Surpluses of milk and butter
Interfood’s history starts in the 70s with so-called ‘milk lakes’ and ‘butter mountains’ thanks to a huge surplus in milk caused by the European agricultural policy to support farmers and secure food supply. Our founder Jules Joosten, full of entrepreneurial zeal, saw a golden opportunity. He used his Telex machine (an earlier version of the fax) to access the international market, taking advantage of the subsidies on dairy product exports offered by the European authorities to reduce the surpluses. Interfood exported condensed milk to Greece and high nutrient milk to feed calves in Italy.
1982
From Feed to Food
The company was successful in trading these dairy products. Trading speed was much slower than nowadays: there was the crucial Telex, a few noisy typewriters and a telephone to receive information about currencies, logistical hiccups and contact with clients. It was all far from real-time trading. Still, milk production was quickly scaling up thanks to modern equipment so the milkman and his milk cans were rapidly becoming a historical curiosity. Interfood conducted its first business outside Europe with Egypt and Cyprus, gradually gaining more and more international connections. Local agents in Uruguay and Oceania – both net producing dairy countries – were connected to the European market by traders who led them through the trade barriers between the continents.
1995
Speeding up
There’s nothing as addictive as the speed of change. The European Union had been established two years before and Eastern Europe had opened up as an important market. Global offices were established and expanded in America, Poland and New Zealand with local shareholders. The first 25 years of Interfood were marked with a spectacular jubilee event in Orlando.
2001
Strong global structure
A new century saw globalisation proceeding. Interfood established a strong global structure with offices across the globe. Next to the establishment of offices in the Netherlands, Uruguay and Poland, Australia came next. The introduction of the Euro in 2002 stabilised the previous currency shocks in Europe. Interfood’s ambition was to enlarge its global presence and attain new markets.
2018
Strategic value propositions
How do you keep innovating as a company? For Interfood this meant moving beyond the trading business by providing data, market insight and top-level service. The strategic value propositions were implemented to keep focus on market insight, dairy risk management, supply chain solutions and technical service. The relatively flat hierarchy was touted as one of the defining features of Interfood and the young workforce was encouraged to come up with innovative ideas. It was a continuous balancing act between keeping the informal company culture that helped the company become a success on the one hand, and being a competitive and professional partner in a global market on the other.
2020
Partner of choice
Interfood celebrated its 50th anniversary. Due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, plans for all global employees to join the festivities in the Netherlands had to be shelved. Fortunately, as our history shows, we have some experience of dealing with uncertainty and our creative team was able to organise a global celebration event online. The coming challenges of creating a sustainable future and growing our expertise will prove that having a resilient past points to a prosperous future as partner of choice for our stakeholders. As Frank van Stipdonk says: “No one knows what the future holds, but one thing is certain: we will be there following our passion and doing what we do best.”
