About Betko

BETKO FRESH PRODUCE OFFERS THE HIGHEST QUALITY FRUIT

Betko Fresh Produce is one of South Africa’s leading apple and pear packers and exporters, supplying leading fresh fruit to customers around the world. Betko is owned by The Japie Groenewald Trust, which controls the interests of the Groenewald family. It sources its produce mainly from the Vyeboom, Villiersdorp, and Riviersonderend regions of South Africa’s Western Cape Province.

Betko’s cold storage, packing facilities and offices are centralised at Villiersdorp. Here Betko annually packs and markets approximately 50,000 tonnes of apples and pears. Of this volume 70% represents apples and the balance is pears.

Cold storage facilities consist of 72 Controlled Atmosphere (CA) rooms with a total capacity of 90,000 bulk bins.

The packaging facilities consist of:

Pack House 1: 2 x eight lane graders
Pack House 2: 2 x six lane graders, and
Pack House 3: 1 x four lane graders

All of the above pack houses are BRC and HACCP certified to conform to the ever increasing global food quality, safety and legal standards.

Betko’s range of products includes the popular pear varieties, William’s Bon Chretien, Rosemarie, Packham’s Triumph, Abate Fetel, and Forelle. The apple range includes Panorama Golden, Royal Gala, (includes modern Gala strains), Golden Delicious, Top Red, Fuji, Granny Smith, Braeburn, Pink Lady/Cripp’s Pink and Sundowner/Cripp’s Red.

For grapes Betko produces Prime Seedless, Flame Seedless, Regal Seedless, Thompson Seedless, Red Globe, Victoria, Alphonse Lavallée, Ebony Star, Autumn Royal, Crimson Seedless, La Rochelle, Barlinka, and Dauphine.

Betko Quality Policy

Fruit supplied to Betko are grown and packed under the strictest food quality and safety protocols. All farming units delivering fruit to the packaging facilities are GlobalGap certified, while a selected few are accredited Tesco’s Natures Choice Suppliers. Samples of all packed fruit are inspected by the central quality assurance organisation, PPECB, before it is dispatched to customers around the world.

Staff training and development takes a high priority and is the underlining factor of the Betko success story.

Betko is a peoples business

Betko is a people’s business, with more than 400 permanent work opportunities being provided to the local community. In season, additional staff is employed, bringing total employment at Betko to more than 550 people.

Betko’s investment in people is also demonstrated by the financial investment in a housing complex where it built 35 homes for long-serving employees, the employment of additional teachers at local schools, as well as ongoing support to local medical and religious institutions.

Betko Brands

Innovative branding and packing concepts is one of the reasons for Betko’s success. The “Betko” brand is well known in both the international and local markets. The secondary brand, “Goal Fruit”, has become very popular, both within and outside of South Africa.

The brands of Betko are part of the legacy of the late Japie Groenewald. In leading Betko’s strategies, this pioneer of the South African industry also played a prominent role in the development of “bagged-at-source” produce of South Africa in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Betko is currently working on a new brand to extend market opportunities.

Our Caring Community

Betko and its suppliers contribute significantly to sustain the rural community of Villiersdorp and offer employment to a growing number of unemployed people in the region. For Betko, social development and support has always been of utmost importance. On Sunnyside, Oubos and Soetmelksvlei, worker’s families are housed on the farms, and development and training programmes are in place to help them increase skills and create opportunities for life enhancement.

Our Pioneering Spirit

Betko is a good example of the entrepreneurial spirit of South African fruit growers and marketers. Japie Groenewald, who founded Betko in the early 1980’s, has built the organisation into one of the significant role players in the South African pome industry. It is a family business, with sons Roux and Japie jr. having taken up the mantel of Japie Groenewald to continue the fine family tradition of fruit growing, packing and marketing.

PRODUCTS

Apples

Betko produces a full range of the best cultivars of apples.

Pears

Premium quality pears for Betko’s customers around the world.

Grapes

A full spectrum of new generation table grapes.

The Japie Groenewald Trust is the legacy of Japie Groenewald, founder of packer-exporter Betko Fresh Produce, who showed true entrepreneurial spirit in building what is today.