True champions

Like our onions, athletes are true champions. And like sports, our onions are extremely healthy for you. Waterman is therefore proud to support several local sports events.

Two teams from Waterman recently participated in a company football tournament in Emmeloord, for example. The goal was to score points to beat cancer, which is exactly what we did, through our sponsoring contribution, but also on the pitch. We played a good game, but didn’t quite reach the champion’s podium.

On Saturday, 25 August, we’ll also participate in the Noordoostpolder Triathlon; an amazing event for real sports enthusiasts.

And on Saturday, 14 September, we’ll be at the Fish Potato Run; the largest sports event in the Noordoostpolder, with more than 2,000 participants.

Sports and Waterman. Sports and Onions. A perfect combination. Both are active, and both are healthy. But don’t eat our onions just before you exercise, because that’s not always a good combination.

The reason we should eat more onions…

Think about your favourite dishes to cook and all of your recipe books. How many of them use onions? Exactly. A LOT of dishes. And with good reason. In addition to the fact that onions add flavour, there are so many other reasons to keep onions in your kitchen.

Some time ago, the newspaper AD published an article listing many of them, but we’ve known all about it for a long time. And now you do too 😉

  1. An onion adds plenty of healthy flavour.
    Many amateur chefs (people like you and I) flavour their dishes with salt, pepper, and the occasional hot spices. That may taste great, but it’s not always healthy. Onions, on the other hand, are natural flavour bombs that add a mild spicy bite to your food. And at only 45 kilocalories per portion, they contain almost no fat and serve us a source of vitamin C.
  2. Onions are good for your heart.
    Onions contain no cholesterol, which can increase the chance of heart attacks and strokes. Several studies have also shown that eating an onion can help prevent blood clots from forming, which in turn reduces the risk of heart attacks.
  3. Onions contain beneficial bacteria.
    The presence of a prebiotic fibre, called inulin, in onions can help to maintain the level of ‘good bacteria’ in the intestines. As a study conducted by King’s College in London in 2018 showed, the bacteria use the fibre as a form of food.
  4. Onions regulate the blood sugar level.
    This health aspect of the onion requires some more research, but initial tests show that onions can lower high blood sugar levels. This may be due to the sulphur in the onions stimulating the production of insulin.
  5. Onions are just delicious. Period.

Looking for new colleagues!

Waterman Onion is looking for new colleagues!
Please check the links for more info and spread the word…

We are looking for :
– MACHINE OPERATOR
– FORK LIFT TRUCK DRIVER

Working at Waterman Onions means:
– a part-time or full-time job with an experienced and growing business
+ lots of independence and room to make your own contribution and put forward ideas
+ teamwork
+ the opportunity for personal development
+ a varied job offering plenty of challenges and, above all, great results
+ friendly colleagues and a good working atmosphere.

So what are you waiting for? Apply now and soon you could be helping to ensure that the forklift trucks at Waterman Onions run smoothly. To apply for this vacancy, please contact Arjan Dunnewind (arjan@waterman-onions.nl).

We also offer opportunities to school pupils and students who are only available in the evenings…

The right timing

Choosing the right time to sow is not always easy. Many people, many opinions. Sometimes we want to be early, but not too early. What is certain is that we always aim for the best quality. Simply because the quality of our onions is the most important.

The first onions have been planted into the cold spring soil. Growers Jos and Bern Derks from Volkel planted their first batch on Tuesday 19 February, especially for Waterman Onions.

At this moment we see that the top layer has dried up nicely, but the bottom layer is still damp. The conditions are currently good for certain areas. The expectation is that most onions in the Netherlands will be sown by the end of next week (the second week of April).

Fam. Jansen from Stedum, Maickel Roost from Hunsel and Martijn Derikx from Ysselsteyn already have put some of their onions in the ground. The three growers grow for Waterman and have sown pink Crimsun and yellow onions. Now we have to wait. And hope for a good growing season!

 

We understand each other

“We may live and work in completely different countries, but we understand each other, and our mutual understanding is the foundation for all the years we have worked together.” This is how Radosław Tyc, CEO at Awex, describes his relationship with Waterman Onions.

They have been working together for over 15 years, and Radosław believes it was love at first sight. “On a more serious note, the real story was slightly different,” he continues. “The first batch of onions we bought from Waterman was not a success. I was not satisfied and called Erik Waterman. He responded well to the situation and showed me how he approaches business.”

The click
The very next day, Erik met Radosław in Poland to see what was wrong with his own eyes. “He understood what I meant right away and solved it. To me, that is what doing business is all about. We got on well together, and that click has never disappeared.”

Both companies have grown considerably over the years. Radosław started the company in 1989 and now employs more than 150 employees, making Awex a major player. The company mainly sells potatoes and onions to supermarkets, sourcing 85% of its products from Poland.

“Apart from the fact that we share the same philosophy when it comes to doing business, we also attach great value to our people. Ultimately, they are the key. We wouldn’t be able to achieve our high quality standards without them, and we have to cherish that, just like our long-lasting relationship.”

‘Klokhuis backstage’ – a great Saturdaymorning!

A conversation with director Erik Waterman, a tour in the factory, making an own vegetable garden and tasting onion soup and a ‘frikadel’ (a typical Dutch snack) with onions!

It was a great morning, Saturday March 30th. More than 30 children and their parents took a look behind the scenes of Waterman Onions. It was the idea behind ‘The Klokhuis Onderneemt Backstage”, a countrywide open day for companies, organised by the popular Dutch youth TV show ‘Het Klokhuis’.

The aim of the event was to give children the opportunity to see how companies operate, with companies opening their doors and sharing what they do. Waterman Onions was, of course, one of those companies. We gave the children a unique peek behind the curtains and introduce them to the world of onions.

 

A healthy addiction

When you enter Waterman’s headquarters in Emmeloord, you won’t be able to escape Hessel’s smile. This Frisian man, born in Gelderland and raised in Brabant, manages all transport-related matters and communicates with our customers, transporters and suppliers. Actually, he talks to everyone who has contact with Waterman in any way.

Fitting the pieces together
What he loves most about his job? The puzzling part. Working with his colleagues to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch: that, at the end of the day, everything fits properly and went smoothly. As long as he manages to make sure that all the day’s work is done!

And when the day is over, he enjoys spending even more time at Waterman, because his sports club has the very same name, although that’s not entirely a coincidence, of course.

‘De Watermannen’ is a tug of war club that was initially established to help Waterman’s employees blow off some steam after work. Now, eight years later, it has grown into a fully fledged sports club that has won many a prize. Recently, the youth team won the Dutch Championships for the second time in a row.

Practice
“It’s a healthy addiction,” says Hessel. “It may be a small league, but that doesn’t mean we’re not serious. In the winter months, we have a match every other weekend and we practice about three times a week. The rest of the year, we practice about once a week.”

We train for our matches in a farmer’s barn with home-made setups. What goes for Hessel’s job, also goes for his athletic exploits: it’s all about making sure that everything fits and runs smoothly. Tug of war and working in Waterman’s Logistics department are both great examples of the power of cooperation, that much is clear!

Once upon a time

Once upon a time, there was a poor onion harvest. The onions could not be sold, but if they were peeled, they were perfectly suitable for consumption. Father Pol Roussel didn’t know what to do, but ever-practical Jaklien Roussel, the mother of the family, simply started peeling.

And so it happened. Was there anyone who needed peeled onions, though? To find out, they grabbed the phone book (we’re talking about 1995, after all) and started calling. The very first company they called has remained a customer to this day, in 2019.

This emergency move turned out to be a veritable success, and over the years, the company grew from peeling onions at home to what it is today: a modern company with 45 employees, specialising in peeling and cutting onions.

A lot has changed over the years, but some things have stayed the same. Uien Roussel is still a family company, with Pol and Jaklien at the helm. Their eldest son Louis and their daughter Charlotte also hold active positions in the company and their youngest son Maxime is rearing to go.

“When our parents told us that they were going to open a factory in the late 1990s, we couldn’t be happier,” says Charlotte with a smile. “We were just kids, so we thought it would be a sweet factory!” Nothing could be further from the truth. They stuck with their trusted onions.

Charlotte decided to study Pedagogical Care. “I wanted to do something completely different: anything but onions. It used to be all my parents could talk about and, as a young girl, I was fed up with it. Now that I’m older, I see things differently. They were passionate back then, and they still are today. Actually, I ended up in the company by accident, but I’m very proud of it now, and the same goes for my brothers.

This is the story of the Roussel family. It’s a special, unique, and entertaining story. A story about smart entrepreneurship and about taking the bull by the horns instead of giving up. A story about thinking differently,  but above all a story about a passion.

That’s why Uien Roussel and Waterman Onions are such a great match, and why we have been working so well together for over 10 years now. And we hope to peel happily ever after…

See you in Berlin?

For the ninth time in a row, Waterman Onions is present at Fruit Logistica in Berlin. It’s the top trade fair for everyone in the fruit and vegetable business, no matter where in the world they are.

Once again, we’re looking forward being there. These are exciting times in many ways, and we enjoy discussing this with people from our profession.

Will you also be in Berlin? Make sure to stop by our stand! We’d love to drink a good cup of coffee with you. See you in Berlin!

Hard workers

Speaking of sustainability, there’s recently been just as much hard work done on top of our roof as beneath it, by no less than 3,800 solar panels. These generate 1.13Mwh per year, enough green energy for a whole year for around 1,300 households. We’ve already saved 55,000 kg CO2 in just a couple of months.

We are extremely happy with the solar panels so far. For us, this means that we’re now completely self-sufficient, so on the one hand we’re doing something to help the environment, and on the other, we’re making great savings – both on energy use and our energy bill, of course!

These solar panels of ours really are hard workers with a view to the future. They fit in perfectly at Waterman Onions.