The ROKA History

ROKA Cheese Crispies was founded by Jo Roodenrijs in 1946, as a side business to his patisserie shop in Delft, the Netherlands. The company specialized in the production of very high quality, crispy puff-pastry biscuits, abundantly flavoured with over 30% matured Gouda cheese and packed in an attractively decorated tin, with excellent storage qualities and providing an exclusive image.

By 1955 the ROKA products were sold in 32 countries and the original bakery could not cope with the growing demand any longer. It therefore had to move into a new plant, near the former premises. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the founder changed his strategy and concentrated on the European markets, which created a more gradual growth 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 new state-of-the-art bakery in the middle of the Netherlands, and to switch from the very expensive tinning to carton packaging. In the past 20 years the company has grown solidly and in 2002 it was sold to a third party.

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