It was the time of corona lockdowns back in 2020, when Antwerp-based fashion influencer Dennis van Peel first started baking cinnamon rolls. His friends liked them a lot, and then also friends of friends.
He opened a Have A Roll pop-up shop in Antwerp a year later. Soon after more shops followed in Belgium: in Ghent and Brussels. Eventually they crossed the border by opening a store in Amsterdam, October 2023. Read more
She was working as a pastry chef but then corona hit. During lockdown Amalia Taleï started experimenting with making chocolates, initially learning from YouTube. She was disappointed in the vegan treats that were available at coffee places in Amsterdam – usually uninspiring bliss balls or banana bread – and was determined to come up with something better.
At first Amalia started selling the chocolates in the restaurant she worked. From then on it picked up gradually, being available at various cafes and coffee places in town and also online. She opened the store late 2023, as it makes it easier for people to find and connect with her products. Read more
The story of Lowlander beer starts when Frederik Kampman is working for a gin distiller in England. Traditionally gin producers are using so called botanicals to give flavour to their gins – deriving from herbs, spices, fruits and plants. He is wondering how the use of botanicals would influence the flavour of beer, and discovers there used to be a rich tradition of using botanicals in beer brewing in the Netherlands. This finally leads him to start Lowlander brewery in 2015.
Throughout the years they also experiment with how beer and food can reinforce eachother. In April 2023 Lowlander Botanical Bar & Restaurant opens as the next step in this! Read more
Inspired by the vegan shift at his workplace De Groene Afslag, a sustainable hub in Laren, Max Mol started thinking about setting up his own vegan restaurant. Through common friends, he met Joost van Hout, who was working as a strategic consultant at the time, but thinking of the same idea. They opened Kool Food July 2023. Initially as a pop-up, to allow for some testing of the concept. But they are here for long-term.
Their aim is to make vegan food more accessible for a wider audience, including non-vegans. They are offering plant-based comfortfood, but don’t advertise with the fact they are fully vegan.
The name is a reference to cool, as well as the Dutch word for cabbage (‘kool’), to refer to the fact their dishes are made starting from local vegetables, rather than using meat alternatives. The menu is created by Bastiaan van der Staak, who is also the chef at De Groene Afslag. Read more
Het Groene Veld started out in 2019 but its origins go back way further. In 1997 a piece of land in the western harbour of Amsterdam (Westpoort) got squatted. This evolved into a flourishing community of people known as ADM, a legendary place with over a 100 residents. It lasted until 2019 when they got evicted. The city of Amsterdam proposed a new temporary location for them, at what is now known as Het Groene Veld, or ADM Noord.
At the restaurant space (established in 2022) there’s vegan people’s kitchen every Friday night. Three course meal prepared by volunteers, because community is important! No choice of menu, you just eat what is made, for the modest price of €10. Read more