Back in 1928, the Van Damme's run a business specialized in the wholesale of fruits (more specifically citrus) located at 'Place Sainte Catherine'.
At that time, most of the wholesalers in fruit and vegetables were gathered in this particular area.
Due to the company's expansion, they move, in close proximity to 'Place du Nouveau Marché aux grains' in 1932, and start with the banana business in 1935.
They quickly
become a leader on the citrus market and are ranked as the 4th
fruit importer of Belgium in 1937.
Unfortunately the war is breaking up and the supply of citrus and bananas is completely stopped.
They start again from scratch in November 1945.
They then decide to concentrate the business on bananas only and give up the citrus products.
The need for space is growing more and
more and once again in 1974 they decide to move to a new Industrial
area , Ternat. As usual, they are among
the first ones to be on the right spot.In 1987, they extend the
building to get more space.
The sales have grown from 30 tons a week in the 60's to more than 500 tons a week today, that is 1.300.000 boxes a year !
VAN DAMME provides Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg and the north of
France.
Ripe bananas are a delicate product. It doesn't stand the transportation (in refrigerated trucks) exceeding 300 km.
The AIDA
company, established at the European Fruit Importers Headquarter,
is the main distributor of the Vandamme products.
Van Damme sells more than 500 tons every week.
