Alumni testimonial

Alumna Floor Hofman founded a zero waste supermarket in Wageningen

Floor Hofman: Owner of De Gieterij | Wageningen, NL

“Knowledge on agriculture, nutrition, climate and ethics were all very useful in composing our product range.”

After graduating in 2014, I worked in an organic supermarket in Bennekom for a few years. That is where the plans grew to, together with my colleague Linde (MSc Organic Agriculture), start up our own supermarket, with as much local products and as little plastic packaging materials as possible.

Since October 2020, we run De Gieterij at the Junusstraat in Wageningen. Our clients can fill up their own jars, bags and bottles, which lowers the amount of materials used for packaging greatly.

Starting our own company was an exciting step, because retail was a new world for both of us. We did a marketing research with the help of a group of students following the Academic Consultancy Training. We knew a lot of the local farmers and producers already, thanks to excursions during our studies. Knowledge on agriculture, nutrition, climate and ethics were all very useful in composing our product range. We want to make this range as wide as possible, but per product we often have only one local choice. We search for the most sustainable option, which also requires a lot of research.

There is a long search behind every product, every product has its own story. To learn a lot about this and to share this knowledge with our clients is what I love most about my job.