It all started way back in 1753, when Egbert Douwe, together with his wife Akke Thijssis, opened their first shop in Joure, in The Netherlands. Up until World War I, they sold a variety of goods in their store, but mainly tea, tobacco, and of course, coffee. The little store on Midstreet flourished.

1. History of Douwe Egberts Coffee

2. It all started way back in 1753, when Egbert
Douwe, together with his wife Akke Thijssis,
opened their first shop in Joure, in The
Netherlands. Up until World War I, they sold
a variety of goods in their store, but mainly
tea, tobacco, and of course, coffee. The little
store on Midstreet flourished. Their son,
Douwe Egberts, was born to the couple in

3. Douwe Egberts and Ymke Jacobs Visser got
married in 1775, and in 1780, at the age of
25, he started helping his parents to run the
now internationally successful family
business. With mother, father, and son at the
helm, the business grew in leaps and bounds.

4. Despite the fact that Egbert Douwes was a
well-known figure in Joure, it was his son
Douwe Egberts, who was responsible for
expanding the business into other
surrounding areas and it is for this reason
that the family business was eventually called
Douwe Egberts Coffee. Douwe Egberts
decided to spread the company out even

5. The Douwe Egberts Coffee quality seal, which
started out as a wax seal in the early days of
the company, was first used as part of a
packaging design for tobacco, in 1925.
Through the years, the seal has appeared in
other colours as well, such as yellow, green,
gold, and blue, mainly to show the different
qualities of various products.

6. In 1928, the company celebrated its 175th
year in business. For 2 days, the entire Joure
community joined in the celebrations, which
started with a Holy Mass, a parade down
Midstreet - where the company first opened
its doors, and ended with a spectacular
display of fireworks.

7. In 1929, just ten years after first opening in
Utrecht, the company expanded by
purchasing a factory as well as
accommodation. This building, situated on
Merwede Kade, is still in operation as the
Douwe Egberts Coffee Company, more than
80 years later.

8. In 1940, during World War II, coffee was
unobtainable, which prompted the government to
come up with a substitute. Dutch coffee roasters
began producing this substitute coffee, which
consisted of ingredients like beans, chicory, peas,
barley, tulip bulbs, and acorns. Douwe Egberts
Coffee manufactured and sold 68 million packets of
this substitute coffee, which they called Fama, until
production stopped in 1952.

9. In 1954, and Douwe Egberts Coffee realized how
popular instant coffee was becoming, and produced
their own brand called Moccona in the Netherlands,
in that same year. Years later, in 1993, the Douwe
Egberts research and development department
came up with still more products, in the form of
cappuccino and latte instant coffees.

10. The Douwe Egberts Coffee television commercial
was one of the first to be aired in the Netherlands in
1967, which highlighted the fact as to how drinking
coffee could help to get people together socially.

11. There were many developments in the company
from 1978 to 2001, including their alliance with the
Sara Lee Corporation, their development of an
artificial sweetener, as well as the launch of the
famous Senseo machine. The company celebrated
its 250th anniversary in 2003 in the Netherlands,
with enormous celebrations, as a gesture of thanks
to employees and consumers, for their contribution
to the success of the company.

12. C & S Vending Ltd
Unit 6
Clearwater Business Park
Swindon
Wiltshire
SN5 8YZ
Tel: 01793872 095
Fax: 01793 871 737
Email: candsvending@btconnect.com
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