Kesbeke

"The Kesbeke Company was founded in 1948 by Charles Kesbeke, who started from a small cellar in the centre of Amsterdam as a base for his pickling business and trade. Charles Kesbeke, originally a baker from Zeeland, moved to Amsterdam with his family after World War II. Upon arriving in the city, he noticed an opportunity and a gap in the market caused by the persecution of Jews during World War II. Although he specialised in pickled products, he also sold general goods, fish, sausages, fruit. Whatever Kesbeke could get, he sold it! He washed, pickled and packed the products by hand in thick glass jars before selling them to bars, factories and passers-by from a street stall. But Kesbeke did not always work alone; his family also helped grow the business. His wife and three daughters sat in a room above the cellar peeling onions until the removal of many market gardens in Amsterdam forced him to rely on international trade.

Despite its growing success, Kesbeke was not an official business until 1960, as Charles Kesbeke had no interest in administration; he left this to his son Camiel, who made it official. After more successful years of business operations, the company moved to its own building on the corner of Adolf van Nassaustraat in 1977."