Pitch Best Small Cap Deal 2022: Vermaat Groep – Join Program 

Date announced: 01 December 2022 
Date closed: 01 December 2022 
Published value: <5 million 
Buyer(s): Vermaat Groep 
Target: Join Program 
Seller: Enbiun 

Involved firms and advisors 

Involved firms and advisors buy side:  
Houthoff (Legal Advisory Corporate M&A) 

Involved firms and advisors target:  
Van Diepen Van der Kroef (Legal Advisory Corporate M&A) 

Involved firms and advisors sell side:  
Van Diepen Van der Kroef (Legal Advisory Corporate M&A) 

Pitch  

Brief description deal / Deal outline  
Vermaat acquired a majority stake in Join Program, the innovative maker of a smart app, which facilitates Vermaat, the leading Netherlands-based company caterer, in putting together staff meals in a central kitchen. Employees can have their meals delivered at work or at home. Company caterers like Vermaat must renew the manner in which they work now that employers see their employees less frequently in the office as compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak. Vermaat, the caterer from IJsselstein, takes a majority stake in Join Program. This is a concept developed by Enbiun in Amsterdam that allows companies and their staff to pass on their menu choices, food preferences and comments via an app. Using this information, a central kitchen prepares tailor-made meals. As a result, the menu is more in line with the growing desire for healthy and sustainable food and less waste has to be thrown away. 

Why should this deal win the Award for Best Deal 2022?  
Vermaat Groep acquired a majority stake in Join Program, the innovative maker of a smart app, which facilitates Vermaat, the leading Netherlands-based company caterer, in putting together staff meals in a central kitchen. Employees can have their meals delivered at work or at home. Company caterers like Vermaat must renew the manner in which they work now that employers see their employees less frequently in the office as compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak.  

Vermaat, the caterer from IJsselstein, takes a majority stake in corporate catering disrupter Join Program. This is a concept developed by Enbiun in Amsterdam that allows companies and their staff to pass on their menu choices, food preferences and comments via an app. Using this information, a central kitchen prepares tailor-made meals. As a result, the menu is more in line with the growing desire for healthy and sustainable food and less waste has to be thrown away.  

Join Program was founded by concept developer enbiun. Vermaat has through the acquisition become the driving force behind Join Program's growth and its social impact. Join Program's innovative approach, team and technology offer a solution to companies that want their employees to eat healthy in a sustainable and flexible manner.  

The quirky catering concept Join Program has been offering healthy and sustainable food programmes to large and small companies since 2019. They and their employees submit their menu choices, personal preferences and user feedback via an app. Based on this data, Food Curators compile healthy and tasty dishes and menus, which are prepared at a central location with local and seasonal products. The range of dishes and service planning thus meet the specific needs of each client and its employees.  
 
Continuous changes in office occupancy require more flexibility in terms of planning. Join Program's approach provides this flexibility, reducing food waste. Combined with a focus on more vegetable and less animal products, this leads to a significantly lower foodprint.  

"Office life is undergoing huge changes. Successful companies distinguish themselves by focusing on sustainability, and healthy and satisfied employees. Join Program responds to the demand for high-quality flexible catering services. In doing so, Vermaat is taking the next step in making healthy and sustainable food and drinks accessible to everyone. Join Program's app makes it easy for employees and office managers to order and give feedback. As a result, the menu offerings closely match their needs. Join Program is going to have a significant impact on how Vermaat will serve its clients," said Rick Zeelen, CEO of Vermaat Group.  

Vermaat and Join Program have made the platform suitable for companies with 50 to thousands of employees, including in multi-tenant buildings. Centralised production has the added advantage for employers and multi-tenant buildings that they do not have to set up a professional kitchen themselves.  

Join Program's Food Curator team develops Food Programmes for these companies based on the personal preferences that employers and employees submit via the app. Based on trends, seasons and user feedback, the Food Curator team scrapes these programmes daily to meet high standards of quality and sustainability.  

Join Program caters to employers who see surprisingly good, healthy and varied food and contemporary service as important components for the bonding and productivity of their employees, customers and guests. The philosophy is that a well-designed Food Programme contributes strongly to the quality, health and sustainability of the offering.  

"In our conversations with employers, we find that our philosophy is an answer to the challenges they struggle with. We put user satisfaction and principles such as healthy, local and sustainable at the heart of this. Our approach is iterative; no further development without feedback! Join Program represents a movement of employees and employers who believe in this approach and want to contribute to an ever-improving programme and service. This is why we are incredibly proud that Vermaat Group wants to support our initiative and invest in this important growth. With more volume, we can also make more impact." Says Join Program director Maurits Tofohr, who started this initiative with his associate Jan Willem van de Sande from enbiun. 

Deal rationale:  
See above. 

What is the impact of this deal for the company?  
See above. 

What is the impact of this deal for the direct stakeholders?  
See above. 

What is the impact of this deal on society?  
See above. Note, in particular, the tremendously increased abilities in flexibility, delivery of great and healthy food choices, combined with the unique avoidance of food waste. 

What was most complex about this deal?  
Creative structuring, allowing for optimal incentives to make the maximum out of the combination of this leading corporate caterer with this unique solution provider, so that the deal lets them create a joint product that is better for Vermaat's and Join Program's clients, their employees and the world as a whole, through improving both on personal health and sustainability by delivering better food while having a lower foodprint and less food waste.