Pioneering next level delicious

Ridder Drost is an Italian stuck in a Dutch body. If you know that, his enthusiasm, his cooking skills and his driving style explain themselves. Ridder is our founder. When he was 17, he drove a hardly roadworthy Fiat Uno to Tuscany and stayed, lived and worked in the olive groves for three years. He learnt a lot. About trees and oil, harvest techniques, weather, sustainable farming and the Italian kitchen. Twenty years later, his company is ours and we sell condiments all over the world. Ridder focuses on sustainability issues. His hair is getting a little grey, and if he’s not working, he sails the Dutch lakes with his beautiful wife and two boys.

Remco Polman is our showrunner. He’s 30 and has just bought a house in Utrecht. If you have never been, Utrecht is really nice. Remco started his adventures at Liquido d’Oro as a marketeer, soon found out that he’s better at sales and later got into operations. From intern to Chief, that’s how it goes sometimes. Remco loves padel, festivals and the Utrecht nightlife.

Maico actually had other plans than condiments, because he did Aviation Studies. You know, with planes and engineers and stuff. He also worked for TUI for five years, poor fellow. Fortunately, his foodie heart has thrown him into our arms. Maico is quite the home cook. He likes to make pizzas in his own wood oven. His big fat (sorry) secret was our peperoncino oil. Isn't that too much fun? Well, when you said pizza, we were all over Maico. Supply Chain is a puzzle that needs to be solved, he also said. Good. That is exactly the problem-solving mindset that we were looking for as a scale-up. By the way, he's not here this afternoon, and neither are the rest of us. Too busy with the new company wood oven in our backyard.

Every good company deserves a Valerie. Val is the omnipresent force that can just about do anything. She started our logistics, then did invoicing and these days she runs the supply, making sure orders are out on time. Being the fountain of Liquido d’Oro knowledge, she also answers all incoming questions. She’s never not doing stuff, and often things have already been taken care of before we realize they had to. In her spare time Val goes walking on De Utrechtse Heuvelrug or in the heathlands of Austerlitz. Or she’s behind her sewing machine making a new cover for your sofa. Woman of many talents.

Basak is our Quality Control Specialist. She makes sure that all things Liquido d’Oro are top quality and food safe. That is quite the job, considering we have more than seventy different oils, condiments, vinegars and dressings and they come from all over the world. Basak trusts her new tech and flashy tracking systems that seem to have eyes and ears everywhere. In her spare time, Basak loves yin yoga and photography. Landscape and nature, sea and sunsets are her favourite. Soon to be admired on the walls in our new office.

Michelle is our Finance Fairy. She loves juggling numbers and is responsible for our daily finance operation. Michelle keeps us punctual, neat and organized and that is a great feeling. In her free time, she hangs out with her young family or goes riding. Michelle loves horses. But really. She’s been a rider since the age of six and with her own horse she rides around the local national park. Her phone is full of pictures. Michelle also loves good food, but prefers it when somebody else makes it. If you want to know which new local restaurant to go to, she’s your source.

Bas is our new Smooth Operations Officer. Together with Maico he makes sure that procurement, production and logistics run smoothly. Bas is neat, analytic and he loves numbers, which makes him a natural operations talent. Before he joined us, he studied Business and mastered in Tech & Ops Management. Smooth Operations Officer is his first job, he moved to Utrecht especially for us. We can feel the pressure. Bas’ favorite dish is Pinsa Romana, a light version of pizza that looks a little like focaccia. When he said that, we hired him on the spot. Obviously.

Jolanda is our quality advisor. Together with Basak, she’s responsible for food safety. The q-team runs a well-structured database with certifications, products, ingredients, packaging, quantities, provenance from all suppliers. More strategically, they do risk analysis, audits and supplier approvals. Jolanda likes to work neatly, or as she prefers to call it: structured and well-organized. At home, she endlessly taxies her kids from one sport to the next, loves going walking on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug and is famous for her killer bolognèse.

Koen is our new Director of Production, and he has a big job to do. Koen will turn us into a fundamentally efficient and sustainable company. He is working on machinery, packaging, systems and processes. We’re not a cute little start-up anymore, you see. For some of our big sustainability objectives, there are no solutions yet, but Koen is convinced he’ll meet them. Luckily, Koen has over twenty years of experience as a director in the food packaging business, so he’ll be ok. Ask him in his free time to play a game. Anything really. Golf, tennis or hockey, or a card game. He’ll play. And he’ll beat you too.

Peter is our very first Floor Manager. In our brand-new factory, he makes sure everything runs smoothly. Like a well-oiled machine so to say.* Peter has helped us out with our production before, he has led teams, loves people, is a great listener and is very keen to learn. Anything really. Picked up a guitar for the first time at the age of 57 to give you an example. His first concert might still take a little while, his first production has already started.  *sorry, couldn’t resist

Mehdi is our Machine Operator. In our shiny new factory in Driebergen, Mehdi is our practical spiritual leader. He makes sure that the machines are running smoothly. Mehdi loves driving cars and climbing mountains. In his native village he likes to go on a big hike in the mountains and sleep in a little tent in the middle of it. You should listen to his stories. Mehdi’s favourite dish is Ghorme Sabzie, a stew with red beans, lamb and saffron. We might have to come back to that, because that sounds very interesting…

Menno is a Liquido d’Oro veteran. He was already a part of our business when we were still filling our own bottles. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? Menno mostly remembers it as a lot of work. In fourteen years of loyalty, Menno has helped us getting organized for trade shows, ran the webshop and back office, did cost calculations and supported accounting. Versatile, indispensable and easy going he is. You can find him in museums in his spare time. His favourite is the Singer Museum in Laren.