Frozen-food producer Pure Ingredients, located in Germany (Kaldenkirchen) and Venlo (the Netherlands), has announced that it is to start collaborating with universities in the Netherlands.
At the moment, the company is already working closely with the Fontys International Business School (Venlo), the HAN (Nijmegen en Arnhem) and the HAS (Den Bosch). The goal of this collaboration is to inform students about developments and trends in the food industry, and to show them how to work in the company.
Chief executive of Pure Ingredients Frank Verhage expressed his enthusiasm about the plans. “The food sector is obviously ubiquitous, dynamic and sensible to all kinds of trends. After all, students from different schools and backgrounds are the future of the market. Naturally, this also applies to the specialties of our brand Lekker Anders (Exquisité).
"Through our cooperation with different universities and their students, we are also able to test new concepts in subtle ways. For example, we are thinking about the growing need for healthy food and the fact that more and more consumers want to spend less time in their kitchen.”
The cooperation agreement includes, among other things, lectures and presentations at high schools or universities, as well as offering inspiring visits to the company itself.
Pure Ingredients will also act as a client for project groups. For example, this year, students of the Varendonck College in Asten, are being challenged to think about nutrition and asked to create a new alternative for Pure Ingredients' well-known Mediterranean wrap, or Lahmacun.
In addition, the Food & Business programme at the HAN University of Applied Science is one of the fastest-growing courses in the Netherlands, and has confirmed its willingness to collaborate with Pure Ingredients, something of which the company is very proud.
On 29 April, Frank Verhage presented at the Food & Business Congress at the HAN University of Applied Science, which focused on the theme 'Dare'. As he explains, this fits very well in with the focus of Pure Ingredients.
"Only a year ago, Pure Ingredients changed its name, structure and corporate identity," he explains. "It wasn’t always easy, but due to the segmentation and diversification in our industry, we simply had to do it. It definitely took some courage in order to take this step. So, basically, you could say I am an expert by experience."
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