A look in the kitchen
About Kleinstesoepfabriek
Through special recipes, flavourful fairtrade and organic ingredients and careful production, a product is created with which we make people happy and warm them through taste. This connects us with each other.
The products and their packaging are sustainable. Innovations are aimed at maximum renewal and shelf life.
How Kleinstesoepfabriek began in 2005…
When Michel decided to pursue his dream in 2005 , he ended up at Bé Arkema’s farm. They met and, as the saying goes, they ‘clicked’.
Bé Arkema’s surroundings were full of inspiration. While walking across the grounds, Michel picked nettles and other (weeds and) herbs that later became the basis for the summer soups.
But the animals – with which he, as a seasoned vegetarian, had a strong affinity – also quickly became the starting point for many a recipe.
In a part of the farm, behind the butcher’s shop, Michel found a perfect place to experiment and (in the beginning) to produce.
Here the soups of the very first hour were ‘born’: Italian shepherd’s soup, French cauliflower soup and the unsurpassed chicken stock, beef stock and shrimp stock.
From call centre employee to German markets
Michel began his dream in the evenings. Alongside his full-time job at customer service, Michel made organic broths and soups during the evening hours.
It started with the organic chicken broth. A friend kept organic chickens and told him that he only received one euro per kilo of meat. In an article by RTLnieuws, Michel later recounts: ‘I then started using his chickens to make broth that I sold at German markets. There is a lot of enthusiasm for homemade products.”
Mission of Kleinstesoepfabriek
At Kleinstesoepfabriek we want to do business sustainably.
All ingredients are organic. As much as possible also vegetarian.
But we go further. For instance, we generate a lot of energy in a green way with more than 200 solar panels.
In addition, we are working on creating the largest rainwater barrel for soup in the world. This way we can make soup and broths from filtered rainwater.
Meanwhile, organic food is starting to gain more and more ground
And we’re incredibly happy about that!
More and more people are eating healthy, organic and vegetarian.
At Kleinstesoepfabriek we believe we can get more people to eat organic by making truly DELICIOUS meals.
In the meantime, Kleinstesoepfabriek has become known through articles in Volkskrant, NRC handelsblad and Financieel Dagblad. TV programme Keuringsdienst van Waarde also visited Michel to see how ‘real’ liquid stock cubes are made.
In the ‘small’ factory in Leek, we now make 1.4 million jars of soup per year. (For comparison: Unox makes around 17 million jars of soup per year in their factory in Poland).
Meanwhile, Kleinstesoepfabriek’s soups are also available in stores. At Albert Heijn, Jumbo, Plus and Ekoplaza you’ll often find the Organic lentil soup, Organic tomato soup and sometimes also the delicious Khao Soi and sometimes the Groninger Mustard Soup and Moroccan Harira on the shelves!
So despite our nice sustainable growth, we’re still the Kleinstesoepfabriek. And we’d like to stay that way!
