In the explorative food market the consumer plays a leading role

Food is a hot topic. Is there enough of it? Is it safe? Is it produced fairly and sensibly? And where? It seems that food is being discussed today like never before. Located in the middle of Food Valley, Schuiteman Accountants & Adviseurs are literally and figuratively at the heart of the debate.

Good story
The consumer plays the leading role in the Dutch food sector. Convenience, enjoyment, healthy and cheap are key words and preferably there’s a good story to sell too. The conscious consumer presents businesses with new challenges; their production, presentation and business operations must keep pace with today’s consumer.

“As well as challenges there are plenty of opportunities,” says Jorrit Koops, partner at Schuiteman Accountants & Adviseurs. “Businesses that are able to capitalise on new developments in the area of, say, home deliveries, online purchasing and corporate social responsibility can penetrate new and existing market segments and perhaps also profit from the internationally leading position occupied by the Netherlands, and especially Food Valley, in the international market.”

Hotbed
“Food Valley offers a cluster of knowledge, entrepreneurship and innovation in the field of food,” continues Koops. “In this way the region provides a hotbed for national and international growth. An exciting collaboration has developed between government, knowledge institutions and trade and industry in order to address the issues surrounding food.”
In this dynamic, Schuiteman is a facilitating player. “As well as providing reliable annual accounts and audits, we can help businesses make effective use of tax facilities and subsidies and can advise on financing issues, which in an explorative market like food arise often and take many forms,” says Koops.

Sounding boards
In order to be able to offer professional expertise, Schuiteman is involved in various sounding board groups in the region. “In this way we aim to assist mainly larger businesses, but also small companies, to, say, upscale and thus also to strengthen the region’s position.”

In the food sector Schuiteman serves mainly (larger) SME companies. As well as providing standard accountancy services, Schuiteman advises companies in the areas of innovation, fiscal opportunities, incentive measures and corporate social responsibility. Using a prognosis tool, Schuiteman also has a usable instrument for planning over the medium term.