Still Sweet at 140 Years

                                     📍Getting a taste of Verkade's chocolate and biscuit history at the Zaans Museum in the Netherlands

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Still Sweet at 140 Years

My first time in Amsterdam, and the thing that stopped me in my tracks wasn't just the canals. It was Verkade, a 140 year old chocolate and biscuit brand. What started as a quick stop turned into one of the most memorable parts of our trip so be sure to watch my highlights in the video above.

Here's what this Dutch chocolate icon taught me:

1. Packaging evolves
   Their horseman logo changed with the decades, but the Delft blue windmill tins stayed iconic, some still collected today
   
   
2. Nostalgia lives in the senses
   The hum of machines still running from the early 1900s and the smell of cocoa settling into the air made the brand come alive
   
   
3. Smell first, taste next, then believe
   We saw the machines, heard them hard at work, and smelled the cocoa in the air, but tasting was always going to be the best part, and we were grateful the free samples let our taste buds complete the journey

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Moment of Gratitude

This month, I'm especially having gratitude for the Verkade company, and for the quiet kind of courage it takes to put people first. Around 1900, they gave women the opportunity to work at a time when that wasn't expected of them. By 1961, they went further and opened a daycare center, so mothers who wanted to work could, without ever having to choose between a paycheck and their children. It wasn't just modern for its time. It was someone deciding that women deserved the option. Dirk and I had a great time in the Netherlands, and Verkade was one of the sweetest part of it.

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Verkade evolved more than its packaging, it evolved how it treated its people. As a business owner, what's one part of your brand that's ready to evolve too?

Unwrap Your Next Chapter

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