The ROKA History

ROKA Cheese Crispies was founded by Jo Roodenrijs in 1946, as a sidebusiness to his patisserie shop in Delft, the Netherlands. The companyspecialized in the production of very high quality, crispy puff-pastrybiscuits, abundantly flavoured with over 30% matured Gouda cheese andpacked in an attractively decorated tin, with excellent storagequalities and providing an exclusive image.

By 1955 the ROKA products were sold in 32 countries and theoriginal bakery could not cope with the growing demand any longer. Ittherefore had to move into a new plant, near the former premises.Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the founder changed his strategy andconcentrated on the European markets, which created a more gradualgrowth and intensified business relationships.

Jo's son and grandson took over the business in 1980.In line with modern developments, they decided to invest in a newstate-of-the-art bakery in the middle of the Netherlands, and to switchfrom the very expensive tinning to carton packaging. In the past 20years the company has grown solidly and in 2002 it was sold to a thirdparty.

The new management, whose roots are in the cheese business,embraces the original mission of being a fine example of manufacturingauthentic Dutch cheese biscuits. They are made of refined puff pastry(90 layers), other fine quality pastry, 12 months matured Gouda cheeseand other high-quality ingredients. The strategy, however, in whichresearch and product development will play a major part, has beenfine-tuned in order to further promote the close relationships withlocal partners.