New start in the German market

Since Erwin van Tendeloo, son of the Flamingo company founder René van Tendeloo, and the Laroy Group decided at the end of 2016 to acquire the long-established Belgian firm and breathe new life into it, Flamingo has recorded a lot of positives. Erwin van Tendeloo was the former owner before the company was sold to financial investor Perusa.
Flamingo is run as an independent entity within the Laroy Group. Its head office remains in Geel, where the 18 700 m2 ultra-modern logistics centre - one of the biggest of its kind in Europe, accommodating 31 500 pallets - is also located. Managing directors Guy Toremans and Erwin van Tendeloo are responsible for the company's fortunes. Toremans has extensive experience of the sector, having spent nearly eleven years working in various managerial positions for the Laroy Group before joining Flamingo in 2016. Most of the 135 employees of Flamingo have been with the company for a long time and have close links to the family-run firm.

There are many signs that Flamingo has succeeded in the last three years in paving the way to a successful future. Nearly all of its trading partners and suppliers remained loyal to the company during the turbulent Karlie-Flamingo years and welcome its new path, on which it appears to be turning the corner. A key pre­requisite for the upturn in Flamingo's business has been the significant improvement in its delivery quota. Although this suffered a drastic downturn in the final days of Karlie Flamingo Belgium, the measures taken to restructure the company's management produced a rapid result: the delivery quota was up to 95 per cent by the summer of 2017 and has since been raised to 97 per cent. At the same time, the company invested heavily in its product portfolio and is now able to offer retailers an assortment of around 8 000 products for all pet categories, thus the two main dog and cat segments, small animals, caged and wild birds, aquarium fish, reptiles and even hobby farming, a strong segment especially in the Benelux states. Each category has its own livery colour, which also extends to the packaging so as to make orientation at the POS as easy as possible for consumers.
The main focus of the range continues to be accessories and treat products, the company's core competence, which are sold under the Flamingo umbrella brand. The wholesale range, which formerly generated substantial sales, has been slimmed down significantly in favour of the company's own products…