Royal Wessanen


Royal Wessanen nv is a multinational food company with a focus on organic, founded and headquartered in the Netherlands. It has operations in Europe and North America. Worldwide it had approx 2,000 employees at the end of 2011, a year in which it reported a revenue of €706 million. Royal Wessanen is owned by PAI Partners and Charles Jobson, shares for the company were delisted.

History

'Wessanen en Laan' was founded in 1765 in Wormerveer by Adriaan Wessanen and Dirk Laan to trade in ‘Mustard, Canary and other seeds’. The company flourished as new uses were found for all sorts of seeds. It was helped by the contemporary popularity for keeping caged birds, particularly canaries.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the landscape around the Zaan river was dominated by merchants’ houses, their warehouses and, most distinctively, their windmills. In the pre-industrial age, the windmills functioned as sophisticated processing plants, using wind power to crush, grind and mix all manner of ingredients.
Wessanen was by the start of the 20th century a large company, and following the award of royal warrants it was now known as NV Wessanen Koninklijke Fabrieken. With a diversified global sales market, it was able to survive war, tariff barriers and the demise of colonialism. But it was still a typically Dutch company, with production facilities on the Zaan River.

Activities

Wessanen works with organic or natural food
In Europe Wessanen is, next to the Netherlands, active in Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy.
Wessanen decided to leave the North American market. Its Tree of Life unit, part of the firm since 1985, was sold to Chicago-based Kehe Food Distributors for $190 million in early 2010. It concluded the €16.7 million sale of its bread products subsidiary Panos in December 2010 and sold American Beverage Corporation to Harvest Hill Beverage Co. in 2015.

Brands

Some of Wessanen's brands include:

Executive board