Key Business Outlooks For 2025: Geert Schellens, Verhoeven Family of Companies
By listening carefully to our customers’ wishes, we innovate at the right points. This enables us, together with our customers, to achieve great innovative successes time after time in the areas our customers need. This way of working demands a lot of innovative ability from our employees, where there is no option to fail. But this keeps the work always varied and challenging.
As we step into 2025, the baking industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace, driven by shifting consumer preferences, sustainability demands, and technological advancements. To gain a clearer picture of what lies ahead, we spoke with industry leaders, from large-scale manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and technology innovators to professional associations that push the industry’s objectives on the public agenda.
In this special section, experts share their perspectives on the biggest trends shaping the market—from the growing demand for clean-label and plant-based products to innovations in precision fermentation, upcycled ingredients, and AI-driven production processes. They discuss how economic pressures, supply chain challenges, and sustainability goals are reshaping business strategies and what opportunities lie ahead for bakeries of all sizes.
Will 2025 be the year of functional baked goods? How will automation and digitalization continue to transform operations? And what role will climate-conscious sourcing play in consumer decision-making? Our panel of industry insiders weighs in on these critical questions, offering valuable insights to help businesses navigate the evolving landscape.
Read on for exclusive interviews with the visionaries shaping the future of baking.
Geert Schellens, Commercial Director, Verhoeven Family of Companies
Considering market volatility, supply chain disruptions, energy costs, and workforce challenges, how would you assess your company’s performance over the past year?
We can consider 2024 as a very positive year! The market has recovered slightly and stabilized, and we as Verhoeven Family of Companies can look back on a year in which we worked hard but achieved very positive results. Deliveries from the chain are again reliable, constant and stable. Energy costs have also stabilized.
What are your expectations for 2025, taking into account the lingering impacts of 2024 and the evolving market dynamics?
As I predicted last year, 2024 and 2025 would be a period of consolidation. By the end of 2025, I expect the market will show very positive upward trends. Because of all the turmoil in the world, our customers have become somewhat cautious about major investments in new production lines. However, I assume that if we work as hard as in 2024, Verhoeven Family of Companies should be able to deliver a similar annual performance as in 2024, or even better.
What have been your primary growth drivers over the past year, and what is the most significant lesson you’ve learned in managing your operations?
We had set ourselves the goal of keeping sales at least equal to previous years, despite the fact that investments from our customers were sometimes delayed.
As competition in the baking industry intensifies, what strategies are you employing to strengthen your market position? How do you balance operational investments with innovation and R&D?
By listening carefully to our customers’ wishes, we innovate at the right points. This enables us, together with our customers, to achieve great innovative successes time after time in the areas our customers need. This way of working demands a lot of innovative ability from our employees, where there is no option to fail. But this keeps the work always varied and challenging.
What unexpected developments occurred in 2024, and how did they influence your business operations or strategies?
The expectation was that the global market would stabilize in 2024 and that our customers would regain confidence to make deep investments to secure their position in the long term. As inflation remained high in many countries, central banks were forced to raise interest rates. Only in the second half of 2024 did we see a strong improvement in our customers’ confidence.
What are the most significant forces driving change in your business for 2025, and how is your company preparing to address them?
We see governments imposing more and more rules on companies, especially in the area of sustainability. But these rules also force us to be even more innovative! Verhoeven Family of Companies has therefore developed Repeatloaf, with the aim of introducing a truly circular solution for bread waste to bakers around the world.