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In the year 1846 there is a man named Uilke Klazes Koopmans who works at a bakery. He decides to quit his job. It's not very clear why he did this, but a reason could have been that he was almost getting married with his wife Trijntje Jans Bierma. Perhaps to secure financial future. Not long after he bought a horse mill. As the name indicates it is driven by horses who run around in circles. These type of mills are very suitable to grind buckwheat. This is mostly because the horses have a very consistent pace and this is perfect for the buckwheat caps. Buckwheat in that time was a very wanted product, it has alot of minerals and vitamines and grows in big numbers in the province of Holland, Friesland. People there used it mainly to make pancakes and grits mush which was a very popular lunch for the people that worked on the lands. It tastes great with syrup and bacon for instance. The mill of Uilke was running great. In 1856 he tried something different and tried to grind wheat. This didn't go well because his mill had too little power. To get power in those times they needed a steam-engine. He kept looking for new business opportunities. Mostly because the amounts of buckwheat he needed weren't available in Friesland anymore. He decides to move his company over to Leeuwarden. There he has access to multiple grains. He gets them from Holland but also imports them from the United States and the Baltic States. In the year 1867 Uilke buys a steam flour factory. He thought this would last him for a while but comes to the conclusion quickly that the company has grown old. The steam-engine had the power of 2 horses but had to be replaced earlier then expected. His son, Jan Koopmans starts working in the company when he reached the age of 14. In 1881 Jan Koopmans takes over the company from his dad. His family lives next to the company and his three sons grow up playing around in the company. As soon as they are older they take over the business from their dad. They come up with new ideas and products such as bakingproducts which are still sold today. They hire salesmen and start releasing commercials. The growth of the company is big and even today, Koopmans has a ton of products in the supermarkets of The Netherlands. |
