The pepernoten factory (met belevenis model onder aan de post)

Last week I went to Den Bosch with a friend, Kaj, and while we were walking around and talking about the Pepernotenfabriek, a store that had just opened in Den Bosch, we saw it across the street! So we decided to take a close look on the inside!

The Pepernoten factory Van Delft started in 1880 as one of the biggest pepernoten producers. It is the oldest and biggest pepernoten factory of the Netherlands, and it tries to innovate with this old goody. Recently they started the Van Delft Pepernotenfabriek, and there are now sixteen stores spread over the Netherlands where they sell their special luxury pepernoten.

What is a pepernoot????

The pepernoot (literally: ‘peppernut’) comes from a Dutch tradition dating back to the 16th century. Once a year Sinterklaas, Santa-Claus, comes to the Netherlands and people then celebrate the Sinterklaasfeest, a national feast. Eating pepernoten is part of that feast. The pepernoot is a tiny biscuit that also contains a lot of spices. Pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves were al imported from the East Indies and processed into the pepernoot.

The Pepernotenfabriek described above is new. Normally you can buy pepernoten only around the national feast, Sinterklaas. But these shops are opened the whole year! This is for some people really amazing, others think

it will destroy the magic of the pepernoot a

round Sinterklaas.

Why is this store exclusive?

Beside the opening of this new store there is something that makes it exclusive, and I have told a little about it before, when I mentioned the special luxury pepernoten. The Pepernotenfabriek sells a lot of exceptional pepernoot flavors, like the blueberry pepernoot, the tiramisu pepernoot, one that tastes like sour candy and a pepernoot mixed with the flavor of pina colada! Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, the one with a bit of sour candy was really bad. But that’s my taste!

Pepernoot in summer?

After all I think it is really great to see that there are already sixteen shops in the Netherlands. I only knew the one in Den Bosch and because of that I was happily surprised by their success till now. Yet the question is: will this work in summer? Are the down to earth Dutchies going to buy the pepernoot in summer now they already make a problem over the fact that the supermarkets start to sell them already by they end of summer, far before Sinterklaas. I think pepernoten are fun around Sinterklaas, but in summer I would rather get a nice ice cream.

Trend

To my opinion the Pepernoten fabriek fits in the Experience Economy, because I went there in the first place to experience the store. And by that I ALMOST bought something. By the experience I had they didn’t make money. Although they won’t make money by that, they really are a nice example of a Flagshipstore. They only sell pepernoten of ‘Van Delft pepernotenfabriek’. The store is all about f these exceptional kinds of pepernoten made by Van Delft.

Quality of life

Eating a lot of pepernoten won’t improve your health but all of the fun around the Sinterklaasfeest will make a lot of people happy and that’s the most important. By walking through the shop I felt like it was ‘pakjes avond’, the night all the sweet children get their presents from Sinterklaas. It made me happy and by that I think it will improve your emotional wellbeing. However this was only for a short while, because when we went outside it rained again…

http://webshop.pepernotenfabriek.nl