February 3, 2021 by Zora Westerhout, Integrand Amsterdam

Grandma’s Soup sells its fresh soups at Albert Heijn, Spar, and Picnic, among others. The proceeds from the sales are used to combat loneliness among the elderly. Grandma’s Soup typically organizes weekly cooking days, where young and old come together to cook a shared soup, making as much use as possible of surplus vegetables. However, during the coronavirus crisis, organizing these cooking days became temporarily impossible. As a result, Grandma’s Soup now delivers a surprise package weekly, which includes fresh soup and a motivational card to lonely elderly people at home in seven different cities in the Netherlands.

Are you excited about Grandma’s Soup after reading this article? We currently have four internship vacancies at this young company!

Marketing intern

Business development intern

Social impact intern

Sales intern

Max Kranendijk is the co-founder of Grandma’s Soup and now runs it together with Martijn Canters, an old soccer friend. Both of them took a gap year after high school. Max then pursued an economics degree in Amsterdam followed by a master’s (CEMS International Management) in Dublin and Milan, and quickly came up with the idea for Grandma’s Soup during his studies. Martijn, on the other hand, completed a bachelor’s degree in law and a master’s in private law in Amsterdam. After his studies, he worked as a corporate lawyer for 2.5 years before deciding to join Grandma’s Soup later on.

Did you both start Grandma’s Soup together from the beginning?

Martijn: We initially had plans to start something else together. Unfortunately, those ideas fell through. We wanted to rent out sports fields. Then I started working and Max set up Grandma’s Soup.

Max: At first, I set up a website for him. He was doing internships at general practitioners. He saw many elderly people visiting doctors without having a real problem. That’s when I started Grandma’s Soup, knowing that he would later want to continue studying medicine and become a neurologist.

How did Grandma’s Soup come about?

Max: I’ve always enjoyed doing business during my studies. I was very close to my grandma, who made great soup and was a bit lonely. At a certain point, I was sitting with Robert in the bar, and I saw many lonely elderly people visiting general practitioners, so we came up with the idea to bring them together with young people and make soup together, turning it into a pleasant afternoon.

Where did you start?

Max: In East Amsterdam, at a community center. We didn’t have much money to spend. We collected vegetables from Turkish grocers on the Javastraat, who would have otherwise thrown them away. That’s where we got pots and pans, so we were lucky. We had a great idea, but we happened to start during Ramadan. When we showed up later, we got the vegetables for free. After the first cooking day, we started renting pans and cooking at other community centers, which was immediately a big success, and the elderly loved it. We actually wanted to make this a business model from the start, and that’s when we opened a shop.

Has your concept changed because of the coronavirus?

Martijn: Normally, the elderly would pick up cooking and lead the way with soup recipes. A box of vegetables would be dropped off, and then we’d see which vegetables to use to make a particular soup. Due to corona, the students in charge started making the soup for the elderly. These are packed in surprise packages, sometimes with a chocolate letter or a bouquet of flowers, and a card with the phone number of the volunteer, so the elderly can always call if they need something. They can go for a walk or just have a chat. It’s mostly about the regular weekly contact moment.

How do you get in touch with the elderly?

Max: We have a lot of elderly people who participated in the cooking days at the community centers. We also have many elderly who, for example, signed up through general practitioners, where we have flyers.

Martijn: And sometimes we just happen to run into them.

Who delivers the soups?

Martijn: Volunteer students deliver everything. This is organized per city by a student board. In addition, they are also involved in marketing, for example, and elderly outreach.

“You have to dare to make mistakes”

In how many cities are you active?

Martijn: Seven, right? Tilburg has recently been added. We now have Amsterdam, Groningen, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Delft, Leiden, and Tilburg.

How do you source your ingredients for the soups?

Martijn: We collect vegetables from supermarkets that can no longer sell them. This varies by city; in Amsterdam, for example, we get them from Marqt, in Groningen literally from a market, and in other cities, from Jumbo, for instance.

Where are these soups currently available?

Max: The soup we make used to be sold to companies and small lunchrooms, but demand became so high that the grandmas could no longer keep up. We then professionalized the recipes and let them be made by a production company in line with hygiene regulations. We now sell that soup to businesses like Albert Heijn.

Martijn, what is the difference between working as a corporate lawyer and working at Grandma’s Soup?

Martijn: It’s very different. I first worked as a corporate lawyer for a large company, so you’re basically one of many. In the beginning, of course, everything is new, like introducing structure, dealing with colleagues and clients, and learning about work life. But I was not very happy with the experience I had. I didn’t get much energy from only sitting behind my computer. Law naturally means a lot of reading, and in the end, the legal side wasn’t for me. What I do now is much more adventurous and challenging, and every day is different.

Max, what did you learn from your internship at Procter & Gamble?

Max: I had been running Grandma’s Soup with Robert for nine months. It was clear that it was progressing, and at that point, I thought: I want to see if I also enjoy working at a large company. The internship lasted three months, but I came to realize that I didn’t like it as much. There were a lot of meetings, and there were great people, but it wasn’t for me.

Do you have any tips you would like to share with students?

Martijn: I would say it’s really good to work for a big company for a year or two. If you notice that it’s not for you, then just go and do something you enjoy. In addition, you have to dare to make mistakes.

Max: I also believe in daring to make mistakes. I would even say that I think the time during your studies is the best time to try things and do what you like. I think starting a business becomes more difficult the longer you wait. Just give it a try. We’ve also had moments where things didn’t go as planned. My tip is: just get started and don’t overthink it!