History

Roerink Food Family has its origins in Twekkelo, a rural area near the town of Hengelo, the Netherlands. The story begins in 1981. Then, Diane Roerink began selling artisan-made dairy products from the old clog-makers shed on her parent's property. Gerjhan Roerink made these products on the farm exclusively using fresh grass-fed milk from direct surroundings.

New developments followed rapidly after 1981. In 1985 a second shop was opened and the first products found their way to retail. Ten years later, the Zuivelhoeve products could practically be found in every Dutch supermarket. Nowadays, Zuivelhoeve products are still being produced at the same place where it all began.

Zuivelhoeve

Nowadays, Zuivelhoeve still collects milk from direct surroundings processing it into artisan-made dairy products. Zuivelhoeve can be called a contemporary brand producing dairy for both national and international retailers and the out-of-home market. The concepts are in line with current consumer needs and a growing interest in local, honest,  delicious dairy. Zuivelhoeve is dairy that tells a good story about her makers and what makes the brand special. That's added value for the whole value chain.

Zuivelhoeve Shops

The farm shop proceeded growing. Now Zuivelhoeve owns over 70 shops in the Netherlands. This franchise organisation with an enormous growing potential has a lot of ambition. Zuivelhoeve Shops are pretty, contemporary delicacy stores selling craftmanship and passion.

De Dessert Meesters

At the end of 2014, Van der Poel Desserts became part of Roerink Food Family. Van der Poel Desserts is a unique business. A producer of top quality ice cream. On 29 February 2016, in discussion with Van der Poel, the name of the company was changed to ‘De Dessert Meesters' [The Dessert Masters]. The reason was to avoid confusion with the Van der Poel ice cream parlour shops. De Dessert Meesters grew into a premium ice cream supplier selling Private Label ice cream to retailers across Europe.

HEKS’NKAAS® en Happy Goat®

In 2011, Zuivelhoeve took over the recipe and trademark of HEKS’NKAAS® from a grocer in Losser. HEKS’NKAAS® has its own modern production site on the Hinmanweg in Oldenzaal. The company HEKS’NKAAS® was sold to Salad Singature in 2017, a company who is further building the brand internationally. 

In 2014, Roerink Food Family invested in the expansion of the organic goat farm De Lingehof, which is a care farm with 1,500 goats. Fresh, spreadable organic goat cheese is made from the milk of these goats. From 2016, this cheese is sold under the brand name of Happy Goat®. Since 2018 Happy Goat® is no longer part of Roerink Food Family.