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 News From Europe - January 2010  |
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Thomas Dafgard and Manfred Sassen Shine
Gunnar Dafgard Chairman and former Executive Director of German Frozen Food Institute are both winners of Quick Frozen Foods International magazine’s prestigious prize. Many are called, but few are chosen as winners of Quick Frozen Foods International (QFFI) magazine’s (QFFI) Golden Ice Crystal Award. Issued to only two or three recipients every two years during a special ceremony that takes place as part of the Anuga in Cologne, Germany, they are presented to movers and shakers who have instrumentally shaped the international frozen food industry by their successful activities. Newly inducted into the ranks last October 11 were Thomas Dafgard, chairman of the board of Källby, Sweden-based Gunnar Dafgard AB, and Manfred Sassen, then executive director of the Cologne, Germany-headquartered Deutsches Tiefkühlinstitut (dti). “Over the years, each award-winner, in his own way, has made contributions that have greatly moved the frozen food business forward,” said John M.
Saulnier, chief editor and publisher of QFFI. “We are pleased to honor them for their unwavering leadership and the decisive roles they have played in advancing the frozen food sector in crucial years of its development in important markets.” Thomas Dafgard has worked his entire professional career to build and expand the company founded in 1937 by his father, Gunnar Dafgard. The firm, which is well known for its Swedish meatballs, produces a wide variety of retail and foodservice frozen convenience items that are distributed throughout Europe. They range from Gorbys brand pizza, cheeseburgers and and cevapcici, to private label lasagna and cabbage rolls with mashed potatoes and gravy. This is the first time that a recipient of the prestigious prize has not come from a leading frozen food production, marketing or equipment firm. That notwithstanding, winner Manfred Sassen was closer to the heart of Germany’s frozen food industry than perhaps anybody else active on the scene in 2009.
As an untiring advocate of frozen foods and leader of the Deutsches Tiefkühlinstitut since 1977, Manfred Sassen adroitly guided the German and European frozen food industry longer than any other frozen food trade association director on the continent. Sassen began his fruitful career in 1971, after signing on as director of the Association of German Retailers for a five-year period prior to joining the dti. That same year, and for more than three decades thereafter, he served as a member of the Anuga Advisory Board, providing sage advice to organizers of the world’s largest food show. There is more in Manfred Sassen’s resumé, as he is the co-founder of a number of sector events held in Germany, including the Cold Chain Forum, the Frozen Food Forum, and Frozen Food at Anuga. Sassen, who retired as head of the dti in December, offered heartfelt remarks upon being honored for his lifetime of achievements. “If you had the pleasure to sit on the same podium with Ed Williams, the founder of Quick Frozen Foods International, during the Anuga 30 years ago in 1979, as I did... If you were in attendance when the first Golden Ice Crystals were awarded in 1997, as I was...If you were as pleased as I was that over the years a number successful German entrepreneurs of the frozen food industry have been awarded the prize, then I am surprised but also honored to receive this award today in recognition for my work with the German Frozen Food Institute. It is the crowning achievement of the Institute’s 53 years of lasting service to our wonderful industry,” said Mr. Sassen. He continued: “I had the pleasure to actively participate in this service as executive director for 33 years. This is a long time. Furthermore, it has been a very exciting time during which our industry has established a positive image while introducing many great products that have been enjoyed by consumers in private households as well as people dining in foodservice establishments.” Generations of Dafgard Success
Thomas Dafgard, as a second-generation chief executive of Sweden’s largest family business in the food sector, talked about the roots of the company which is now is now operating under a third generation of leadership with his son Magnus at the helm. A fourth generation of executive talent is currently being groomed for succession, as Thomas’ grandchildren are being taught important business lessons by their great-grandmother. Based near the southeast shore of Lake Vänern, Sweden’s largest lake, Gunnar Dafgard AB manufactures and distributes frozen and chilled products to foodservice and retail outlets internationally. If you have ever eaten a Swedish meatball at an Ikea store restaurant in Europe, you have sampled a Dafgard product. The company employs upwards of 1,050 workers and generated annual turnover in excess of 200 million euros last year. Andrew H. Williams, president of Quick Frozen Foods International, prior to presenting Chairman Dafgard with a plaque in commemoration of his many achievements, took a moment to read its inscription: “Ceremoniously awarded on Oct. 11, 2009, at the Anuga, Cologne, Germany, in recognition of unrelenting efforts and leadership in pioneering the frozen food sector during crucial times of its development, and helping to build it into a first-class industry. QFFI salutes your keen vision and energetic drive, as it continues to power today’s ever-expanding frozen food business. You shine brightly as a supernova among a galaxy of stars.” Sassen and Dafgard have joined an elite list of winners of QFFI’s Golden Ice Crystal Award for lifetime achievement, which reads like a “Who’s Who in the Frozen Food Industry.” Since 1997 prizes have been presented every two years. Among winners since 1997, all overachievers recognized for great accomplishments, are: H. Harrison McCain, co-founder of McCain Foods; Karl Dusterberg, founder of apetito AG; Ernst Wagner, founder of Wagner Tiefkühlprodukte; Edward Haspeslagh, founder of Ardo NV; Dirk Ahlers, founder and chairman of FRoSTA AG; Andre Dejonghe, founder of Pinguin NV; Reinhold Stöver, founder of Agrarfrost; Per-Oskar Persson of Frigoscandia, inventor of the FLoFreeze industrial freezing process which revolutionized IQF production around the world; Bob Prakken, founder of BluePrint Automation; Gerrit de Bruijne, founder of Farm Frites; Philip Dean Kruk-De la Cruz, managing director of Salomon FoodWorld; Achim Schön, managing director of Roncadin; Volkmar Frenzel, an entrepreneur from the former East Germany who beat the odds in an anti-free enterprise Communist environment to not only found Frenzel Frozen Food, but to go on and make it a success in the post-DDR marketplace. Adam Basalaj Focuses on Poland
Prior to the Golden Ice Crystal Awards ceremony, as part of the Frozen Food ’09 program, Adam Basalaj, general manager of FRoSTA Sp.z.o.o Poland, gave a talk entitled “Chances and Prospects of Frozen Food in Poland.” The outlook is good, he assured, considering that per capita consumption stood at only 7.9 kilograms in 2007 [the last year for which reliable figures are available]. That compares with 13.3 kilograms in Hungary, 41.4 in the United Kingdom, and 50.5 in Sweden. Basalaj reported that, even in the throes of a global recession, Poland’s GDP grew by 1.4% and the increase in food sales amounted to 7.5% in the second quarter of 2009. During the same period, GDP for the Euro Zone as a whole was negative at -4.7%, while the USA slid by -3.9%, and Sweden dropped by -6.3%. Since 2001 consumption of frozen vegetables in Poland has increased 10% to reach 63% of the population, while intake of french fries has advanced by 13% to 37%. Consumption of frozen fish products has risen by five percent, to 60%. Retail channels, more so than foodservice, are driving the growth. With the nation’s total store count approaching 106,000, supermarkets account for 3,900 outlets while the number of hypermarkets is 267. Discount stores number 1,750, led by market leader Biedronka’s 1,500 shops. Small local stores add up to about 60,000 units, with independent groceries specializing in nutritive products numbering about 40,000. Demographics bode well for continued increases in frozen food consumption. With rising dual incomes available in households where both partners work outside the domicile, the traditional family model will change, said Basalaj. “There will be less time for home cooked meals, and thus increased use of frozen products will follow,” he stated. “The current heavy users of frozen foods are aged 15 to 49, and the main target group is middle-aged people with university degrees living in towns.” As for distribution, an improved cold chain and increased allocation of retail space to merchandise frozen products will further boost the category over time. In the end, of course, consistency of high quality products is essential if consumers are to become repeat purchasers of frozen foods, as the best manufactured product in the world goes for naught if the distribution cold chain is abused. “Switching off electrical power over the weekend is a standard practice in small private shops,” he complained. “And the cleaning of frozen food cases by thawing while produce remains inside is still the standard operating procedure at some stores.” Nonetheless, Basalaj is optimistic about future prospects, once cold chain integrity is securely in place. “Better quality of products assured by a higher quality cooling channel – distribution, transport, shops with closed freezer cabinets – should increase acceptance of frozen food among consumers,” he concluded. The Frozen Food ’09 event at Anuga, sponsored by Salomon FoodWorld and Wagner Tiefkühlprodukte, was jointly organized by Koelnmesse, the German Frozen Food Institute, Quick Frozen Foods International and Lebensmittel Praxis. |
