Founded in 1662 in Amsterdam, the Van Eeghen Group is one of the oldest family businesses in Europe, a former Dutch trading house that has reinvented itself through the centuries.
They began as a modest trading company and evolved into a modern, internationally recognized supplier of functional food ingredients (natural or processed substances added to food or supplements to offer specific health benefits beyond basic nutrition. These ingredients help support the body in various ways—such as improving immunity, enhancing brain function, supporting heart health, or aiding digestion).
Through wars, economic crises, and changing global markets, the company has remained in the hands of the Van Eeghen family for over 15 generations. Their core strength lies in their ability to adapt, innovate, and make long-term decisions rooted in continuity and quality. Today, Van Eeghen continues to lead in nutrition, supplying health-supporting ingredients to industries across Europe and beyond.
The Beginning: A Merchant Family (1662)
The company was started by Jacob van Eeghen, a Protestant merchant who fled religious persecution in Flanders (modern-day Belgium). He settled in Amsterdam and began trading in wool, linen, salt, timber, wine, and sugar. These goods were sold across Europe, the Mediterranean, the Baltic region, and the West Indies.
Van Eeghen took a bold path by staying independent of the powerful Dutch East India Company (VOC), focusing instead on trade with the Americas and Western Europe.
Early Leadership: Suzanna Blok (1705)
After Jacob’s descendant Christiaan van Eeghen died in 1705, his wife Suzanna Blok took over the business. She later stepped in again when her son died. Suzanna became one of the world’s first female business leaders and successfully led the company through challenging times.
Growth and Diversification
Van Eeghen is still 100% family-owned and currently led by Jeroen van Eeghen, continuing a 15-generation legacy. Over the past 360+ years, the company has grown from a small family trading business into a modern player in the global health and nutrition industry.
10 Rules of Success of the Van Eeghen Group
Rule No. 1: Choose your own path and never join a monopoly - Jacob van Eeghen who founded Van Eeghen Merchant Company in 1662, realized that if he wanted to succeed he would have to compete against the monopolistic Dutch East India company. He made the decision to focus on the Americas, an area that the Dutch East India company overlooked as its business was directed in Asia.
Rule No. 2: Employ and marry strong women - When Jacob retired, his son, Christiaen van Eeghen, took over the business but died unexpectedly and his wife Suzanna Block took over the family affairs. Sadly, her eldest son also died at an early age so Suzanna once again saved the company to become the world’s first female family business leader.
Rule No. 3: Professionalize - In 1778 the Van Eeghen brothers Christian and Pieter, who was a partner in another trading house named Juilion & Rulffs, joined forces to formally establish the firm for the first time. Pieter bought his associates out, their mother Cornelia folded her assets into the firm and the firm Pieter & Christiaen van Eeghen was formed. Juilion & Rulffs’ network widened the product range considerably.
Rule No. 4: Choose long-term goals over maximizing short-term profits with high risks - In 1793, Pieter van Eeghen and a syndicate of 12 other Dutch investors (called the Holland Land Company) bought 3.45 million acres of undeveloped land. Pieter and his fellow investors quickly realized that it made no sense to sell the land to make a quick buck. Instead, they took a long-term view and began to make serious investments in the Holland Purchase, as the vast tract of land became known, for the next 50 years.
Rule No 5: Leave but Never Forget - The archives of the Holland Land Company have been stored in the Amsterdam municipal archives, where some 150 meters of historical records document Van Eeghen’s illustrious history in the United States.
Rule No. 6: Diversify, Upgrade and Relinquish - In the 18th and 19th centuries, Van Eeghen reduced its European trading risk by diversifying their activities geographically. During the Napoleonic wars, when trade nearly came to a standstill, Van Eeghen developed banking activities and later merged these financial services with Oyens, creating a bank called Oyens & Van Eeghen, which that continued for more than 150 years.
Rule No. 7: Care about Your Domestic Community - In 1864 a group of citizens led by Christiaan Pieter van Eeghen bought some grassland and marshes at the rim of the city of Amsterdam to create a park. Over the years, members of the Van Eeghen family were also involved in establishing Rijksmuseum, Concert Building, Stedelijk Museum and the first social housing projects.
Rule No. 8: Pay attention to niche markets - In 1950s, Van Eeghen saw the market potential of Oriental and exotic cuisine and the taste for ready-made food of an increasingly affluent society. They became a major supplier of dehydrated vegetables to food processors, which eventually became their future core business activity.
Rule No. 9: Be agile. In the early 1990s, Van Eeghen set up a new Functional Food Ingredients division, focusing on the sale of exotic spices, vitamins and minerals.
Rule No 10: Stay True to Family Values. Jeroen van Eeghen is the 15th generation leader of the family firm, having been named Managing Director of the Van Eeghen Group in 2012. Like his predecessors, Jeroen has kept the entrepreneurial spirit of the founder alive. He employs a cadre of highly educated food technologists and chemists who provide their clients with advice on application use, marketing and quality assurance. It is this added value that gives Van Eeghen a competitive advantage
Source: CFBR Van Eeghen, Les Hénokiens
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