Raising Namibian baking excellence
Started as a small bakery in 2001, Mello Foods has enjoyed great success in its 17-year history to become one of Namibia’s foremost independent bakeries.
The man behind the meteoric rise is none other than its general manager and social entrepreneur, Ben van Niekerk.
The bakery currently produces and markets Mello, a 100% local brand that produces long-life bread in a wide variety of flavours, hamburger and hotdog buns, frozen pies and croissant for the local market.
All of the company’s products are baked at its factory in Windhoek’s Northern Industrial Area.
The company also supplies retail franchises with a variety of products, so whenever you are enjoying a sumptuous hamburger, or a pie, you can rest assured that the chances are high it’s a Mello Foods product.
“With the revision of the Mello brand in 2014, we realised what our impact on the local market was and that the potential of the company was bigger then what we had expected. As a result, we changed our vision to provide the greatest possible value to customers, thereby gaining their respect and loyalty to build a company and brand aimed at empowering the local market,” says Van Niekerk.
The company is driven by an ethos of always giving back to the community, Van Niekerk says. “Mello is driven by passion and not necessarily by profit. Therefore, we feel we have a deep responsibility towards our community, our customers and our employees.”
According to him, this has also resulted Mello offering products that would not normally have been in the market and thereby providing an opportunity for its employees to enhance their baking skills and providing customers with a wide array of baked goods to choose from.
Mello Foods, Van Niekerk says, prides itself in being one of the biggest independent suppliers of baked goods in Windhoek and also supplies popular retail franchises in Namibia.
“If you have eaten a burger at a popular restaurant, you can rest assured it’s a Mello Foods product,” Van Niekerk says proudly.
Van Niekerk is quite bullish about Mello Foods’ future prospects and says the company is poised to grow its products range.
“We are currently busy investing in new technologies and processes that will broaden our range of baked goods for the value-added market,” Van Niekerk says, playing his cards close to his chest.
“Our vision going forward will be to further improve our footprint in the market by maintaining excellent customer service, high-quality goods, keeping our consistency and always developing new products tailored for our market,” Van Niekerk adds.
Van Niekerk says the company will not even try and deviate from its values and will always strive to do things in a manner that is environmentally friendly, clean and innovative.
“With the exciting changes in the market, we are now gearing ourselves at exploring new market share and developing new products in an environmentally responsible, economically friendly and sustainable manner,” says Van Niekerk.
OGONE TLHAGE
The man behind the meteoric rise is none other than its general manager and social entrepreneur, Ben van Niekerk.
The bakery currently produces and markets Mello, a 100% local brand that produces long-life bread in a wide variety of flavours, hamburger and hotdog buns, frozen pies and croissant for the local market.
All of the company’s products are baked at its factory in Windhoek’s Northern Industrial Area.
The company also supplies retail franchises with a variety of products, so whenever you are enjoying a sumptuous hamburger, or a pie, you can rest assured that the chances are high it’s a Mello Foods product.
“With the revision of the Mello brand in 2014, we realised what our impact on the local market was and that the potential of the company was bigger then what we had expected. As a result, we changed our vision to provide the greatest possible value to customers, thereby gaining their respect and loyalty to build a company and brand aimed at empowering the local market,” says Van Niekerk.
The company is driven by an ethos of always giving back to the community, Van Niekerk says. “Mello is driven by passion and not necessarily by profit. Therefore, we feel we have a deep responsibility towards our community, our customers and our employees.”
According to him, this has also resulted Mello offering products that would not normally have been in the market and thereby providing an opportunity for its employees to enhance their baking skills and providing customers with a wide array of baked goods to choose from.
Mello Foods, Van Niekerk says, prides itself in being one of the biggest independent suppliers of baked goods in Windhoek and also supplies popular retail franchises in Namibia.
“If you have eaten a burger at a popular restaurant, you can rest assured it’s a Mello Foods product,” Van Niekerk says proudly.
Van Niekerk is quite bullish about Mello Foods’ future prospects and says the company is poised to grow its products range.
“We are currently busy investing in new technologies and processes that will broaden our range of baked goods for the value-added market,” Van Niekerk says, playing his cards close to his chest.
“Our vision going forward will be to further improve our footprint in the market by maintaining excellent customer service, high-quality goods, keeping our consistency and always developing new products tailored for our market,” Van Niekerk adds.
Van Niekerk says the company will not even try and deviate from its values and will always strive to do things in a manner that is environmentally friendly, clean and innovative.
“With the exciting changes in the market, we are now gearing ourselves at exploring new market share and developing new products in an environmentally responsible, economically friendly and sustainable manner,” says Van Niekerk.
OGONE TLHAGE
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