"In an entrepreneurial family, the business is always number one," says Marco van Overbeek of Gardener's Pride from Beetgum, Friesland, in Glastuinbouw Nederland's podcast KasGesprek. Last year, his father Cock van Overbeek died after a sickness of just eight weeks. The steps in the tomato and cucumber company's business plan, which were supposed to be taken over a five-year period, were of necessity realized in just one year.
Yes, it was a tough year, but there was no lack of sufficient motivation, even in dark times. The company is on top. "That was always the case with my father, and my sister and I have the same attitude now," he says.
Marco at GreenTech Amsterdam 2023
Marco talks calmly about the sudden loss of his father. After the conversion of the organization, Cock van Overbeek had hoped to remain in an advisory role for Gardener's Pride for many years to come. It was not granted to him. "Precisely that personal contact and advice, the back of forth with each other, that's what I miss most. You can get cultivation advice and business support from several places, but the loss of fatherly advice cannot be compensated for," Marco experienced. "My father was a real character too!"
There are plenty of challenges that father and son would still like to spar about, but which the new management team now has to make and has made its own choices. They are also discussed in the podcast, which can be listened to here.