FROM IDEA TO SNACK
AS DIRECTOR OF SWINKELS SNACKERY BACKERY, BUT ESPECIALLY AS A CHEESE LOVER, TON VAN DER AA HAD THE IDEA TO MAKE A SUPERIOR CHEESE SOUFFLÉ, A DUTCH FRIED SNACK, IN 2009. SO, TIME TO SIT DOWN WITH A TRUE CHEESE ARTIST. AND AFTER A NICE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS, ST. PAUL BECAME THE PURVEYOR OF CHEESE FOR THE ‘SOUFLESSE’, THE EMPEROR AMONG DUTCH CHEESE SOUFFLÉS.
Ton van der Aa is taking a number of St. Paul’s colleagues back to the beginning of Souflesse. Van der Aa: “My business partner Mart Beniers and I noticed that the quality of cheese in cheese soufflés was declining and that the ratio of puff pastry to cheese could be better. We were really missing the cheese experience in the product and aged cheese could largely solve this problem as far as I was concerned. By itself, this cheese has a delicious spicy and full flavour. We knew it would be a challenge to make aged cheese pumpable. In fact, due to its texture, it crumbles much earlier than the cheese previously used in cheese soufflés. St. Paul, one of our suppliers was one of the few who could turn aged cheese into processed cheese. Moreover, we knew St. Paul as a real sparring partner in a development process. So after one call, we got started.”
The idea
During the weekly sales meeting at St. Paul, the story got a follow-up. During this meeting, which still takes place every Monday morning, the request was discussed. Egbert van de Winckel, sales manager at St. Paul says: “After the initial contact, we try to get the question as clear as possible. It has to be clear what the desired output should be, the standards the product should meet. Our product developers should then be able to work with this. Swinkels Snackery Backery wanted to develop a distinctive cheese soufflé with more cheese and more flavour. There was also a desire for a tastier crust and a distinctive shape, which would distribute the cheese better and make the snack easier to eat. Once the brief and requirements were clear, we still had to figure it out financially, of course.”
Ton van der Aa: “We knew the quality and taste of the cheese from St. Paul and had full confidence in the company. The latter is very important because that is the basis of good cooperation. For example, one of our conditions was that the recipe had to remain exclusive. We knew Dieter Kuijl and his team and were convinced of their qualities.” Kuijl complements him: “We were confident as well. But we did want Ton to make a conscious choice for us. If we partnered, we wanted to become the sole cheese supplier. In return, we offered good value for money. Thus, success would not depend on price, but purely on the product.” “We gladly agreed to this and a strategic partnership was born. With a good cheese price, we could really accelerate and conquer the market,” says Ton van der Aa.
Team spirit
Cees van Oostrom, food technologist at St. Paul, continues: “It is no coincidence that we have a weekly meeting on Monday afternoon at the product development department, following the sales meeting. We immediately discuss the new requests. For each new assignment, we discuss the operation and the desired final product. We put together a tailor-made team that includes all disciplines from the organisation. This allows us to provide truly tailor-made solutions, so feedback is provided from different perspectives at each stage of the process. For example, on taste or practicality in the factory. It is a very efficient way to develop new products.”
Making good soup!
“During the development of a new product, the research phase is essential. The challenge in developing the melting cheese for Souflesse was, on the one hand, the baking stability and meltability of the final product and, on the other, the processability, the pumpability, of the cheese filling. Our knowledge and experience is of vital value as, for example, what we discovered when redeveloping the Kaaskrakertjes (Cheese Crackers). These snacks initially fell apart, and when Dieter and I investigated this in the early 1990s, we found that the protein particles in the cheese had not dissolved properly. Since then, our production process has been adapted and we give each ingredient a separate treatment.” “After all, having all the right ingredients does not make a good soup, it is the way you put the ingredients together,” adds Dieter Kuijl. “In fact, partly as a result of these developments, the Kaaskrakertjes are one of the top cheese snacks in the market again and Ton van der Aa now sells them on behalf of Van ‘t Hof Foodgroup, the current producer of the Kaaskrakertjes.”
Quality above all else
Once all the information is complete and the research phase completed, the actual recipe for the cheese is started. A phase that focuses on finding the perfect ratio and processing method for all ingredients. Dieter Kuijl explains: “When developing a new product, quality is very important to us. But it is hard to describe what this is. For example, cheese is a natural product. The taste of milk, the basis for cheese, differs in summer or winter due to the cows’ diet. We anticipate this changing raw material by constantly measuring the structure with smart parameters in the production process. In this way, we ensure quality year round and that’s what sets us apart.” Ton van der Aa agrees: “The quality is really very good and constant at St. Paul. They know how processed cheese is constructed and what they can and cannot do with it. They are real professionals.”
Not the end but the beginning
And then the success story begins for the No. 1 premium Dutch cheese soufflé: the Souflesse from Swinkels Snackery Backery. Thanks in part to the pumpable aged melting cheese from St. Paul, less dough and great taste, this snack is a big hit. Thus, the product has been rolled out internationally and the Souflesse Mini Assorti forms the basis of the Cheese Pillow. That the success of the Souflesse has not failed to benefit Swinkels Snack Backery is clear, among other things, by the fact that the company was acquired by snack manufacturer Van Geloven in 2016.
Ton van der Aa: Snacks are the DNA of Ton van der AA. He worked as a commercial manager Foodservice Benelux at Ad van Geloven, as managing director of Swinkels Snackery Backery and is currently director/owner of Cynthor Food Service.
Cees van Oostrom: Cees is a food technologist and crossed paths with St. Paul several times, when there was a survey or test to be done. In 2017, he joined St. Paul.
Egbert van de Winckel: As of 2017, Egbert is a permanent member of the sales team at St. Paul. As international sales manager, he has already experienced many development processes.