Chocolatefactory De Beemster

It all started with Piet Klijnsma (1928-1994), he already had a number of years of experience within production companies such as De Truffelmaatschappij and Jaka, at the latter he was even a manager. On May 23, 1964, Piet officially started his own company, he called it Chocolatefactory "De Beemster". He did this together with his wife Tien Klijnsma (1932-2015), who was known for her friendliness and enthusiasm. Although the product-technical part was fairly well suited to Piet, he had hardly any experience in the tradingbusiness, so the first years of the company were quite difficult. When Tiny Rijninks joined in 1968 to get the administrative affairs in order, the ball started rolling. Due to the good cooperation between Piet, Tien, Mrs. Rijninks and the staff, business went better from the 70s onwards. Piet and Tien had 4 children, Marian, Sita, Jos and Edith Klijnsma. Jos & Edith are still working within De Beemster.

The house where the production took place was located along a narrow canal. A small bridge connected the main road with the house and the factory. Suppliers unloaded their cargo on the street, after which Klijnsma took the goods to the factory with a forklift. However, a driver from transport company Prins was not aware of this method. He rang the doorbell of the Klijnsma family to say that he was bringing peanuts and had a problem. Jos Klijnsma walked with him and saw that the bridge was completely destroyed. The repair took 3 months, until then De Beemster was allowed to use the neighbor's bridge.

Due to the success of the coated products, the production capacity of De Beemster turned out to be insufficient. In the 1980s, the factory had to process such large orders that the production capacity and storage became insufficient. Piet Klijnsma hesitated to build a second production unit on the Zuiderweg, but this was refused by the municipality. The municipality would have preferred that De Beemster departed entirely from the Zuiderweg so that the area retains an agricultural character. The municipality then allocated De Beemster a piece of land on the industrial area in Middenbeemster, the first phase of construction started in 1991, finally the second phase was completed in 1994. Unfortunately, Piet Klijnsma was not able to see the new factory in its entirety, he died earlier that year.

The 50th anniversary of De Beemster is a unique milestone, looking back at half a century in which the company has been through a lot. A company that started in the backyard grew into a processor of chocolate that trades internationally with many customers. In 2004, the workforce consisted of about 11 employees, 10 years later in 2014 this number has risen to 20 men and women strong. For the storage of raw materials and end products, De Beemster has had a warehouse built on the other side of the production location. The company has also taken over the former Hoogkarspel printing house, which is diagonally opposite De Beemster, where a new line has been installed where small packaging is made. But De Beemster has still not lost its passion and innovation, sustainability is playing an increasingly important role and the company is certainly going along with that. Increasingly strict requirements from the law and IFS keep entrepreneurship challenging, so De Beemster will continue to develop.

Ten years later, De Beemster celebrated its 60th anniversary with a successful trip to Rotterdam. In recent years, a lot has also happened that has had an impact not only on the company, but on all of us. The Corona pandemic is something that will remain a permanent memory for many, even when some of our staff was affected by Covid-19, we were still able to ensure that enough was produced to meet the demand. In a positive light, De Beemster made great strides in the field of sustainability, this year our spacious roof is equipped with no less than thirty solar panels. With the proceeds of our panels, we not only provide our own factory and office with electricity, but also part of the surrounding small office buildings. In this way, De Beemster contributes to a better and more sustainable product.