Market Food Group chooses HEUFT: “the Rolls-Royce among ovens”

EverBake is known worldwide for its ZELA greasing and spraying machines and bakeware such as strapped bread pans, peel boards and all kinds of baking trays such as hamburger plates. In the Netherlands, EverBake is the recognized importer and supplier of HEUFT thermal oil ovens. Read here why Market Food Group, a leading industrial bakery in the Netherlands, has chosen EverBake and HEUFT.

With more than a hundred franchisees in more than six hundred markets, ‘t Stoepje is now the largest franchise formula in the Netherlands in the baking industry. You will be familiar with the concept, but you can also imagine that baking for such a number of customers is quite a job. It is not without reason that ‘t Stoepje has an impressive bakery, with a number of very large production lines. Everything revolves around efficiency and capacity, apart from the highest possible end product quality of course. The sidewalk recently invested heavily in renovating its ovens and chose HEUFT. As a result, six new HEUFT VTR trolley ovens are baking at full power in the bakery at ‘t Stoepje in Spakenburg, where a tunnel oven will also be put into use next year. We spoke to Sjacco Nel from Market Food Group about this extensive project.

Bakery ‘t Stoepje, founded in 1979, is the best-known and largest franchise formula in bread, cakes and pastries on markets in the Netherlands. What started with a local bakery in Spakenburg has grown into a nationally known formula. You can now find Bakkerij ‘t Stoepje every week at more than 600 markets in the Netherlands. The sophisticated distribution system is aimed at getting all products to the markets fresh and on time. In addition to the central distribution center in Spakenburg, the regional distribution centers in Helmond, Bleskensgraaf, Hoogeveen and Stein are part of this organization. A large number of products have to be made fresh every day and the fresh products have recently been baked in the six new HEUFT VTR trolley ovens. “As far as we are concerned, the Rolls-Royce among ovens,” says Sjacco Nel.

Energy consumption
The Market Food Group was looking to replace the outdated ovens. “We had ovens here from 1969, 1986 and 2001 that were still in service and during the search for replacements we looked very carefully at energy consumption. Especially in the current market and with the prevailing energy prices, this will be an important factor in the decision-making process for producers. We visited several oven manufacturers, including the HEUFT production location in Bell, Germany. We received an extensive presentation and tour there and we quickly became convinced of their story.”

Substantial savings
Certainly the fact that significant energy savings could be achieved was decisive for Market Food Group. “We have to deal with a gas connection for our ovens at our production location, partly because the capacity on the power network is too low to switch. So we are tied hand and foot to gas at the moment, which means you have to make critical choices in terms of energy consumption and the savings that can be achieved. Of all the providers, HEUFT presented us with the most advantageous picture in that area, where we could achieve an energy reduction of at least 40%. Our hope is that that reduction will be even higher. In addition to high gas prices, energy taxes have also increased enormously this year. If you can achieve such high savings, that is certainly a plus.”

Energy source
A major advantage of the HEUFT ovens is that the thermal oil heat exchanger system can be used with different energy sources such as gas, electricity or hydrogen. “This means we can still switch in the future and in this way we are truly future-proof.”

Quality improvement
What also played a major role in the decision to choose HEUFT is the consistently high quality of the products that are achieved. Sjacco: “We have really made an improvement in quality. There has been an improvement in quality in every respect. The characteristic way of baking certainly ensures that we get a better end result for our distinctive products. For example, you get a nicer cracking of the crust with authentic products. We have only been baking with the HEUFT VTR cart ovens for a few weeks now, but that is something we are already very satisfied with.”

Tunnel oven
Next year, Market Food Group will also have a 22-meter HEUFT VULKAN EUROBACK tunnel oven available, Sjacco said. “During our conversation at HEUFT, we also came to the conclusion that we could achieve substantial energy savings and quality improvement for baking our large and soft small bread if we opted for a 3-deck HEUFT VULKAN EUROBACK tunnel oven. That came up shortly, even though we were not planning to make this investment yet. Then you start thinking. The payback period and the fact that you are really ready for the future provide plenty of food for thought. In any case, we are completely convinced that this was the right choice for us, partly due to the progress we have already made with the VTR trolley ovens. The plan is that we will be able to make full use of the tunnel oven next year.”

Accompaniment
The entire process was managed smoothly by the EverBake Group – distributor of HEUFT. “We had very good contact and were well guided by the people at EverBake. For example, they facilitated us to use a test setup after our visit to HEUFT to become even more convinced of the added value of the ovens, if that was still necessary. We finally signed the contracts during IBA last year and we are now using the ovens to our full satisfaction. We are also looking forward to the installation of the tunnel oven next year, but we are confident that that project will run smoothly again.”

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