People in the Netherlands ate more beans than ever last year. According to HAK, an NPM portfolio company, the consumption of legumes rose by as much as 12%* in the Netherlands last year. The canned vegetables manufacturer itself saw its sales of beans increase by 16%** and thus in fact outpace the market.
With an absolute added contribution of almost 3 million euros** to the beans category in supermarkets, HAK continues to be the driving force for the category as a whole. In particular, product innovations such as beans in a stand up pouch, introduced by the canned vegetables manufacturer in 2015, are providing an extra impetus to sales in the legumes category.
Nicole Freid, Director Marketing & Innovation at HAK: ‘Young consumers are looking for tasty, pure, healthy products without added sugars and aromas. Our stand up pouch, which we now market in 12 variants, is attracting these modern consumers to the beans category, in which we are accordingly witnessing a strong rejuvenation.’ The convenience of the new type of packaging, the stand up pouch, also exerts a very strong pull on this target group. The stand up pouch is now the third most widely used and fastest growing type of packaging within the category of freshly processed vegetables and legumes.
