Don’t be fooled by the name. The Cucumber Man delivers more than its namesake vegetable.
Not only does The Cucumber Man produce long English and mini cucumbers but 12 different varieties of tomatoes, sweet long Ramiro peppers, basil and butter lettuce.
“We wanted to get away from generic – beefsteak and vine (tomatoes) – which are your largest volume seller,” said co-owner Rick Wagenaar. “We wanted to create a line of Cucumber Man specialty products. We’re experimenting with that all the time.”
Vine-ripened produce from the Redcliff, Alta., operation are picked, packaged and in Co-op stores quickly – in some cases within 24 to 30 hours – to ensure freshness and quality.
“The taste and flavour is dictated by the sun, feeding program and how long it hangs on that plant,” Wagenaar explained. “The longer I keep that tomato on that plant, the bigger the taste.”
And he sees huge opportunity in being a local provider of sustainable, local, fresh and diverse product.
Growing from scratch
Wagenaar didn’t grow up on a farm, although his grandfather did have a dairy farm. When his family moved to Medicine Hat, Wagenaar worked in landscaping with stints in a local greenhouse. He liked the idea of being self-employed and the lifestyle the greenhouse business provided.
So in 1986, the 21-year-old bought a local operation using seed money from his brother-in-law. He built his seasonal business from six greenhouses that were 17,000 square feet in his back yard to three acres and nine employees.
“We were growing, but I saw a need for us to make a vast change of direction,” Wagenaar said.
Instead of being involved in every aspect of the operation, Wagenaar wanted to steer the company. So he sold his operation in 2006 and took a year to plan his next move. In one venture, he partnered with his brother-in-law and nephew, Albert and Ryan Cramer, to build a 15-acre greenhouse south of Medicine Hat for year-round production.
In a separate venture, Wagenaar partnered with Wayne Stigter and began acquiring other greenhouses in the area, including The Cucumber Man from Alf van Dam – whose father-in-law peddled cucumbers in Calgary going back to 1968. This would become the brand of the new business.
Success despite competition
“When I started, it was about local,” he recalled. “The world got smaller….Everything is attainable just about anywhere.”
Wagenaar’s ventures are still family-based businesses – two of his four sons are now working with him – but he had to grow and specialize in order to compete.
He said working with Co-op has enabled them to experiment with varieties, some they haven’t grown for 20 years.
“We grew these varieties when price wasn’t an issue. The budget forced us to grow tomatoes a little differently,” Wagenaar said. “Co-op has afforded us the opportunity to go back into the archives and look at things we used to do.”
Wagenaar’s passion is evident. He measures success by his nearly three decades in the industry. Even still, the work he’s doing today – ever since the direction change in 2006 – has renewed his love for the business.
“We’re not erasing what we did,” he said. “It brought us to where we are today.”
