An SME that produces dairy products joined a cooperative (in this case called ‘Farmers Unite’) and formed a collaboration with four other farmers (dairy and livestock farmers as well as flower and vegetable growers). The aim of the collaboration was to innovate their business model. They joined up to distribute their products to each other’s shops by jointly investing in a distribution body to upgrade their point-of-sales network and logistics efficiency. They set up the business from scratch, found partners and steadily grew to a group of 11 farmers, covering a whole province in Flanders and distributing to several retail stores of the Delhaize supermarket chain. Distribution is organized through a ‘pick, drive, deliver’ system. It was founded by the consortium as a separate legal entity and currently has two employees.
(This is a pseudonym since the company prefers anonimity)