Maastricht Porselein Winkel specializes in tableware, glass and cutlery for companies, healthcare institutions, catering and private individuals. The company was already firmly positioned on the Dutch market. Now Lucien Franssen’s company is also looking across the border. “We often forget to look to the left, while there is such great potential in Belgium,” he says.
“National borders are often drawn by the mistresses of those in power,” said former NATO boss Willy Claes years ago. No idea whether this was also the case in 1839 when the two Limburgs separated, but you cannot ignore the fact that it is not self-evident for Dutch entrepreneurs to cross the Maas.
“The Belgian customer is different from the Dutch,” says Armand Vliegen, marketing advisor and manager of the cross-border network One Two GO. “You have to make a little more effort to convince him, but once you have his trust, you have to try even harder to be shown the door.”
Ostend
Lucien Franssen agrees with the latter: “It did not happen automatically, but we now have two hundred customers, spread throughout Belgium, as far as Ostend. We currently generate ten percent of our turnover from our Belgian neighbors. It always strikes me that they find personal service very important. If it’s good, it doesn’t matter about that last ten cents.”
Maastricht Porselein Winkel is known for its excellent price-quality ratio. “But that is not enough, the overall picture has to be right. Without good personal contact and decent service, you can forget about the long term,” emphasizes Lucien Franssen, whose company specializes in personalized products. “The table setting is our core business. Good Belgian examples are De Kleine Tafel in Hasselt, Diner’O in Zutendaal and De Vogelenzang in Schilde. We can provide a catering business from A to Z with high-quality and affordable tableware, glass and cutlery. Together with the customer, we look at which materials best suit his target group.”
