The deal of a lifetime
Finding the love of your life during a business trip to Brazil: Rob’s story
As a food trader at Kuhne + Heitz Rob regularly travels to ‘his’ region: Latin-America. The suppliers he needs to visit are literally based in the middle of nowhere. “You go places you otherwise never would have been to. The Brazilian countryside, for example. There you are, driving in the Jeep you hired on a muddy sand track in the woods. It is already getting dark; you have no service and yes: you also must get back home. You understand you need to have some guts to do that.”
“There you are, driving in the Jeep you hired on a muddy sand track in the woods. It is already getting dark; you have no service and yes: you also have to get back home. You understand you need to have some guts to do that.”
During a company visit to one of the Brazilian suppliers, a duck producer, Rob meets export coordinator Jaqueline in early 2020. They agree to have dinner with 4 in an Italian restaurant in Blumenau, the nearest city. “Eventually, 2 of the 4 cancelled, so there was just the two of us that night. Maybe it was meant to be, because that night we fell in love.” Fortunately, the couple were able to still see each other during the pandemic, thanks to the ‘Long Distance Lover Scheme’, an exception to the European entry ban. “Currently we are full of paperwork because Jaqueline will soon be moving to the Netherlands. Last summer we even got married!”