History

Predicting the future at -18°C

Mr. & Mrs. HASPESLAGH SR.

When Edward Haspeslagh announced that he wanted to start a company to produce frozen
food, his wife Christiane was prompted to ask, "Is that really necessary?"

"It's the future," he confidently replied.

Soon afterwards, in the spring of 1977, the first piece of equipment - a compressor - arrived at
their farmyard in Flanders. They sprang into action right away, and began all the preparations
for freezing their entire harvest of vegetables.

Edward Haspeslagh knew all about high-quality vegetables; for years he had produced baby
carrots and fine black salsify for the canning industry. However, this time he was about to enter
the new world of deep-freeze technology. It took a month for the compressor to be up and
working properly. For a while, it even looked as if they might not be able to meet their deliveries to
customers on time; despite the binding contracts they had arranged. There was no rest for anyone
as the final adjustments were worked on day and night, continuously, until Ardo finally emerged
from the starting blocks - just in the nick of time.

From this point on, Edward Haspeslagh managed to consistently expand his company year by
year. His first move was to Wallonia in southern Belgium, followed by France, the UK, Spain,
Portugal, the Netherlands and Denmark. Today, Ardo is now a well-known, established
player in the market for deep-frozen fruit and vegetables. This just goes to show how correct
Edward Haspeslagh was; the future was indeed frozen food, and it began at -18°C, the temperature at
which deep-frozen products are stored.

 

Mr. Ignace, Jan, Bernard, Xavier HASPESLAGH

Nowadays, the business is run by Edward and Christiane's sons, Ignace, Bernard, Jan and Xavier
Haspeslagh, who helped their parents to build the company up. They maintain the high standards and
core values that form the foundation of the company, and in doing so, maintain a strong entrepreneurial
spirit. This means, amongst other things, that earnings from the company's operations are systematically
reinvested in expansion, continuous improvements, and innovation. It also means that they carefully
select well-qualified employees, who can truly make a difference, for the company.
With their combined enthusiasm and expertise, they can guarantee the good quality of their products
and keep prices competitive.

Ardo has always been an ambitious company. Between 1977 and 1990, Edward Haspeslagh acquired
control of a Wallonian vegetable processing factory and sales offices in both England and Spain. Over
the next few years, expansion began in earnest. Ardo acquired even more processing factories and sales
offices in France, the Czech Republic, Russia, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark,
Ireland, China, Hungary, Romania, Poland, …
With each acquisition, the management's primary objective was to benefit from the new effects of the
synergy between it and the core business, as well as to expand technical and commercial expertise.

Ardo has played a crucial role in the success of the market for frozen food produced from field crops and market garden produce. Everyone at Ardo is still convinced that the future still begins at -18°C.

Ardo nv - Wezestraat 61 - 8850 Ardooie - BELGIUM - T +32(0)51 310621 - F +32(0)51 305997 - info@ardo.be - sitemap