The story of Chef Centraal
From a lifelong passion for food and the conviction of wanting to contribute to a more sustainable food chain, Karel Raymakers founded Chef Centraal in 2019.
After years of working at Unilever and Makro Argentina, he realizes he needs to take the reins himself to make a difference.
By talking to chefs, who share his enthusiasm for beautiful products, he soon notices the enormous interest in local and sustainable products. However, the supply is fragmented, and chefs don't have the time and space to travel the country in search of something surprising.
Armed with a healthy set of taste buds and boundless energy, Karel embarks on a quest to find producers
with a story. To makers who are as dedicated to their craft as they are to their environment.
This is how Chef Centraal is taking shape, a personal hospitality wholesaler where craftsmanship, quality and enthusiasm go hand in hand with the pursuit of a sustainable food supply.
Food travels far too many miles before it reaches our plates. That is not only a mortal sin, it is also unnecessary. We explicitly look for producers close to home.
Our philosophy
Chef Centraal's mission is to make the food transition happen in the hospitality industry. We do this by making sustainable and local products accessible to chefs as an Amsterdam-based hospitality wholesaler. According to us, the required food transition rests on the following pillars:
LOCAL PRODUCTS
Food travels far too many miles before it reaches our plates. That is not only a mortal sin, it is also unnecessary. We explicitly look for producers close to home, such as milk from Amstelland, Groningen mozzarella or tempeh from French lupine beans, rather than soy from tropical rainforests.
VEGETABLE PRODUCTS
Consumption of animal products is unsustainably high, and flavorful alternatives are essential in the transition to a plant-based diet. Pure substitutes such as plant-based croquettes are fantastic, but also flavorings and alternatives such as kimchi and tempeh greatly broaden the plant-based options. The animals whose products we feature are treated with as much respect as possible.
CIRCULAR PRODUCTS
Waste is one of the biggest problems in our food chain, and circular products are a great step to combat this. We therefore work closely with producers who are giving new life to products that would otherwise end up in the trash.
SLAVE-FREE PRODUCTS
Some of our food is produced by farmers who are severely underpaid for it. Cocoa and coffee production are particularly distressing examples of this. We therefore work with suppliers who can really make a difference through transparency and special local knowledge.
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY TRANSPORT
Driving a carton of oat milk around in an old diesel van doesn't seem like the solution to us. That is why we deliver our products with electric vans and, by bundling our producers' deliveries, we greatly reduce the number of deliveries in town.
MINIMIZING WASTE
The amount of packaging waste in the food chain is a thorn in our side. We look forward to working on this, together with customers, suppliers and producers.
