Jacques IJs, innovative ice cream maker from Westerlo

Jacques Ice Cream has been making ice cream for over 115 years. In 1986 the company was taken over by the Mermans family, but the name was retained out of respect for the ancestor and his values that are still important to the family business.

Today Jacques Ice works for all major house brands, who mainly expect quality and innovative ideas from the ice cream maker from Westerlo. "No less than 22% of our turnover comes from new products," says R&D manager Stef Ooms. Below you can read his testimony.

Colac, partner for sauces and compounds

I have been working at Jacques Ice since I graduated school. Now, eleven years later, I work there as an R&D manager. My job is very varied. I have to develop and evaluate new recipes on taste, appearance and texture, sourcing the right raw materials, calculating prices and so on. This means that I work closely with Colac, our partner for sauces and compounds. The cooperation has intensified over the past five years for various reasons.

Flexible and cost effective

Colac is very flexible. This is necessary, because we must be able to react quickly to our customers. After all, they expect more than innovative ideas from us. They also want to be able to sample samples as soon as possible. With private label products that are new to the market, it is also important for our customers that they can order small and correct quantities. Due to these small decreases, the inventory cost is reduced, which appears to be an important asset in addition to our quality and flexibility. Thanks to Colac, we can make and keep beautiful promises.

Professional and amicable

It is nice to be able to rely on a partner who comes up with solutions. Both our buyer Benny Van Loo and I are immediately helped if we have questions. From raw material specifications to brainstorms about new products: nothing is too much. Prices are never difficult either. Everything is fair, transparent and friendly.

We have a personal click with Jeanne and her team and that is very important to us. It is also a nice bonus that Colac is a Belgian company from the Kempen. This is not only positive for our transport costs, it also reduces our ecological footprint. And we support the Belgian economy!