Golden Ice Crystal Awards
Go to Kees Meijer and Jan Pickenpack

Kees Meijer, co-chairman of Kruiningen, Holland-based Lamb Weston/ Meijer.

Jan Pickenpack, former managing director of Pickenpack Tiefkühlgesellschaft, was the last family member to run the company before it was acquired in 1999.

At a time when the general economic forecast for the world as a whole and industrialized Western countries in particular is cloudy at best, and when politicians of all persuasions call for public money and still more borrowing to finance job creation programs, we are reminded that the most powerful employment engine is the private sector. This magazine will soon salute two captains of the frozen food industry who have provided paychecks for thousands of people over the years, as it presents Golden Ice Crystal Awards for Lifetime Achievement during the Anuga trade fair in Cologne, Germany.

At 7 PM on Oct. 10, in the Koelnmesse Congress Center East’s Offenbachsaal, Kees Meijer and Jan Pickenpack will be inducted into the elite ranks of frozen food industry movers and shakers whose names include Harrison McCain, Karl Dusterberg, Dirk Ahlers, Ernst Wagner, Per-Oskar Persson, Edward Haspeslagh, Andre Dejonghe, Volkmar Frenzel, Reinhold Stöver, Gerrit de Bruijne, Guy and Luc Van den Broeke, Achim Schön, Manfred Sassen, Gunnar Dafgard, Philip Dean Kruk-De la Cruz and Bob Prakken.

I first met Jan Pickenpackat Packfisch headquarters in Lüneberg, Germany, back in 1986. During the course of a lengthy interview much was learned about the rich history of the multi-generational, family-owned firm which began operations as a trawler fishing company in Altona (now part of Hamburg) during 1906. The days of the German deep-sea fishing industry were coming to an end then, due to implementation of the Law of the Sea’s 200-mile exclusive fishing zones.

“A country with no coasts has no chance today to succeed in the fishing business because of political considerations,’’ he stated. “Rather than become involved in a state-subsidized trawler association, as an independent private company we decided to get out of that business.’’

Pickenpack wasted no time in charting a new course and further embracing opportunities in the growing value-added segment of the frozen fish market, saving more than 500 jobs in the process. He never looked back, but instead invested in modernizing factory freezing operations and cold storage facilities, and ramping up marketing and sales efforts for an expanding line of private label fishery products ranging from naturally-shaped Alaska-Seelachs Filets and Grill-Filets to Pollock Portions in Sauce.

Meetings with this highly accomplished executive, who along with able brother Thies successfully ran Pickenpack for years come, were always most informative. His state-of-the-art factory was a regular stopping point during my annual market survey tours of Germany, until and for some time after the company was sold to the Gild Buy-Out Fund in 1999. Since then the assets have changed hands a few more times, going to the Reykjavik-based Iceland Group and most recently to Hong Kong-headquartered Pacific Andes and a consortium of investors.

Kees Meijer was key in the evolution of Lamb Weston’s business in Europe, which took a great leap forward when his family’s company teamed up with ConAgra Foods in 1994 to create Lamb Weston/ Meijer.

The Meijer Group of Kruiningen, Holland, has deep roots in the potato field, ranging from R&D in tuber varieties to trading in seed and table potatoes. In January of 1985 Meijer Frozen Foods began producing branded frozen potato products as well as private labels in a newly-built plant capable of processing seven tons per hour. Less than two years later annual output and sales were topping 50,000 tons of a wide assortment of products ranging from french fries and potato croquettes to dollar chips and more.

Demand continued to grow, and in 1989 a second processing line was built, boosting capacity to 175,000 tons. Exports were booming in markets well beyond Europe, as buyers in the Middle East and other regions were increasingly hungry for Meijer products.

ConAgra certainly made the right move when it entered into a very successful partnership with Meijer Frozen Foods. The wise strategy of combining internal growth with expansion through acquisitions has turned LW/ M into the frozen potato products powerhouse that it is today, with capacity to produce 600,000 tons of finished products from plants in Holland and the UK. Revenues topped EUR 400 million in 2010, a year in which employment was provided for over 1,000 people. Hats off the to Kees Meijer and Jan Pickenpack for jobs well done!