Cock's Vleeswaren Belgium

His son, Jozef De Cock, followed in his father’s footsteps, opening his own wholesale company – Cock’s Vleeswaren—in 1969. One year later, he took over his father’s production line. As the company’s reputation for traditional, quality meats grew, so did its popularity. To meet demand, the entire company, along with the production, were moved to the Industriepark-Noord, an industrial complex in St. Niklaas, where it can still be found today.

The company has stayed in the family, as well, with grandsons Marc and Philippe now at the helm. The company has continued to grow, and in 2005 the site doubled in size with the building of a new distribution centre. But thanks to the family connection, it has remained true to the original vision of Charles and Jozef De Cock: to use the best ingredients and traditional methods to create the highest quality products.

For the De Cock’s brothers, the food experience is critical. The product itself must convince the customers, with its exceptional flavour, enticing aroma and inviting appeal. And the only way to ensure this is to put quality first. ‘This is what gives our products that extra, individual touch that distinguishes them from other prepared meats’, explains Marc De Cock.

While tradition is key at Cock’s Vleeswaren, it is clear that modern production methods have an important place in ensuring the top quality. The production infrastructure is ultra modern, and the production environment highly controlled. However, traditional methods are still used within this infrastructure. Both production and the distribution have been certified entirely with the IFS quality standard.

This standard is recognized throughout Europe by all large distribution chains. The strict controls of the system guarantee safe and quality products the whole year through. The new distribution centre, christened Casaventa, became operational in 2005. It uses an automation system unique in the Belgian food industry to stock, control and manage the products to perfection. Even transporting products from one building to another across the street is handled using state-of-the-art technology: using a conveyor belt that goes through a 140 metre long refrigerated bridge!

As a long-term partner in the community, Cock’s Vleeswaren is also fully committed to meeting its social obligations. It has long been a forerunner in the industry for eco-friendly practices, and has been reusing packaging materials, recuperating waste products and building its own wastewater installations for decades. In January 2000, it became the first meat packing company in Flanders to put the AEP (Waste and Emission Prevention) into practice. By doing so, waste and energy usage, as well as waste disposal, are kept to a bare minimum.

Despite the technological advances, Cock’s Vleeswaren remains a people’s business. Every staff member is an essential part of the production process. ‘We’ve set up our structure to encourage responsibility and idea generation’, explains De Cock. ‘When people are inspired, you can taste the difference’. And at Cock’s Vleeswaren you can. Over the years, the product range has grown to meet the needs of the other important people the company works with: its customers. The company’s specialties include its highest quality, traditional Golden Hams, its range of extra sweet salted horse meat, its ‘boerenpatés’: farm-style pâtés that –unique among boerenpatés - are spreadable, and much more.

While the company’s name itself represents its history in the meat industry, Cock’s Vleeswaren knows that there are many other food experiences that can benefit from its ‘quality first’ motto. The range has therefore expanded far beyond just cold meats, into specialties, cheeses and more.

Among the biggest evolutions was the 2003 launch of the company’s range of prepacked meats under the Cock’s Fresh label. ‘This range reflects the strong demand we saw in the market to combine the highest quality products with modern methods of prepackaging’, says De Cock. ‘We only use our own products, which are freshly sliced and immediately packaged. The range was very quickly successful!’ Under the Cock’s Fresh brand, the company has been able to expand both sales channels and product groups.

It now includes cold meats, prepared salads and spreads, ready-made meals and sausages and snacks. Cock’s Vleeswaren also launched a range of Italian-style salami, branded as ‘Casadoro’. ‘We always try to stay in line with what our customers want and need’, continues De Cock. For example, we’ve even introduced a large range of gluten-free products. And while legally, products labelled ‘gluten-free’ can actually contain small amounts of gluten (up to 20 mg of gluten per 100 g) our ‘glutenfree’ items are 100% without gluten! It’s just another example of how we always put the customer first’.

Thanks to its clear vision and philosophy, this company that started out as a local butcher’s shop, has evolved into a true, home-grown Belgian success story, annually earning €65 million in revenue and producing 4 million kg of food. And as long as Belgians retain their taste for quality, this company is poised to move from success to success!