Richard Stoop

On public demand, Are you Swedish? launches Sales Agent Recruitment Service.

Are you Swedish? is a Sales Consultant and PR Agency for Swedish Fashion and lifestyle brands wishing to approach the Benelux market. The agency now launches a new service, apart from sales and PR for the retailing industry, Are you Swedish? introduces a Sales Agent Recruitment Service.

”This service is a product born purely out of public demand, we are approached by so many Swedish brands looking for Benelux Sales Agents and we know so many agents that are asking us for good brands. This service is the solution to an existing problem, helping Swedish brands finding local sales agents” Hanneke de Boer, owner of Are you Swedish? explains.

Working locally is key in order to really grow in a foreign market and to have a good local partner is also important when trying to catch the attention of a retailer, Hanneke de Boer points out.

The Sales Agent Recruitment Service offers a matchmaking between brands and retailers where they are put together based on what the customer’s brand is and what kind of result they would like to achieve in the Dutch market. Due to Are you Swedish? extensive network, the matchmaking process, has in consideration brand image, price level, retailer portfolio etc.

A meeting with Vincent Bosgraaf, Skogsgreven, or the Lazy Vegan if we may?

On a sunny autumn afternoon, we had the opportunity to sit down and have a talk with the Swedish Chamber member Vincent Bosgraaf, owner of the family-run company, Skogsgreven. For those of you not familiar with Skogsgreven they have a long history and expertise in freshly frozen potato fry-ups, or as you probably know it better, pyttipanna!

Dates back to 1996

It was Vincent’s father, Sietze Bosgraaf that founded Skogsgreven back in 1996. As a young cook, he was curious and enthusiastic about the possibilities about frozen potato dishes and developed a new and unique Pyttipanna recipe that was exactly what the Scandinavian people were yearning for. This recipe is today the most classical there is when buying Pyttipanna!

An unexpected Swedish connection

About four years ago, Vincent Bosgraaf took over the family business. At the same time, he also joined the Swedish Chamber of Commerce. The Bosgraaf family is Dutch, but they have lived back and forth in Sweden, in the little town Strömstad, to be exact. Vincent’s reason for joining the Swedish Chamber of Commerce was more on the personal side of it, he claims. He enjoys meeting Swedish people and thinks that this is a perfect forum for it.

Interesting news ahead

Vincent describes himself and his activation in the Swedish Chamber to be a lit low-key, but from now on, things might just change for that matter. Since recently, Vincent Bosgraaf started a new company called Lazy Vegan, his own brand and company that he thinks is the ultimate answer to the lack of vegan and vegetarian food options in grocery stores.

Lazy Vegan

“Lazy Vegans are kind, they don’t harm animals, the planet or their own health. Lazy Vegans are chill, they make dinner in less than ten minutes and have time for the fun stuff.”

The idea behind the product Vincent got from acknowledging the lack of vegan and vegetarian frozen food options in grocery stores. As the trend goes there are a lot of meat substitutes available, but not so many dishes containing them ready to buy.

This is what Lazy Vegan wants to solve, a healthy dinner, with lots of vegetables, together with the protein hero pulled peas(!) As we had the chance to try it too, we concur, it really is delicious! The product is set to launch in Swedish stores approximately in the beginning of 2018.