Pillars of the Amsterdam economy

Over the years, Amsterdam has become one of the world's most successful port and trading cities. Some companies have been around for a long time and are still active and successful. Amsterdam expert Bas Kok outlines a timeline of these pillars of the capital's economy.

It's no coincidence that a trade document takes center stage in the anniversary year. The toll privilege that Count Floris V granted to merchants around Dam Square 750 years ago is considered the birth of the city. From various trades, professional groups emerged and organized into guilds. There were blacksmiths, coopers, bakers, farmers, millers, shoemakers, potters, weavers, and so on. From the 14th century onward, the guilds in Amsterdam were the craft backbone of the city. Within the guild system, groups of people organized themselves according to craft or type of trade. They played a key role in regulating the quality and prices of goods and services and also served as a social network for craftspeople. They also provided training to promote craftsmanship. For merchants with entrepreneurial spirit, the guild system felt restrictive, and it was abolished in the 19th century. It was in that century that more and more individual entrepreneurs saw the opportunity to transform their businesses into even more successful enterprises. Some of those companies and brands are still thriving today.

BOLS – drinks

Bols is said to have begun around 1575 in the 't Lootsje Distillery just behind Dam Square. The grandson of founder Lucas Bols, born in the seventeenth century, is considered the one who put the brand on the map worldwide. As a major shareholder in the Dutch East India Company (VOC), he had first access to herbs and spices, enabling him to develop numerous liqueur recipes. Bols began producing jenever on Rozengracht in 1664. His recipe called for prolonged fermentation of rye, grain, and wheat, followed by triple distillation. The jenever was transported to all corners of the world in the now-characteristic brown-orange jug. The last Bols member died in 1816. In 2000, Bols was acquired by the French company Cointreau, but the Bols name remained. Today, the product range comprises more than forty liqueurs, jenevers, and other spirits. In the capital's Museum Quarter, Bols combines its headquarters with the Bols Bartending Academy and the Cocktail Experience.

NDSM | DAMEN AMSTERDAM – shipbuilding and repair

Amsterdam began building ships early in its history. This took on a major role with the Dutch East India Company (VOC), founded in 1602: the "world's first multinational" built its mighty seagoing vessels in the Amsterdam port area, with which it literally and figuratively conquered the world. After the VOC went bankrupt in the early nineteenth century, the NSM shipyard restarted operations in these docks in 1894. After a few decades, the VOC shipyard in the eastern port area became too small and moved to Amsterdam-Noord in 1922. The riveted main building was lifted up like a tent and sailed to the northern bank of the IJ River, where it was reassembled in two buildings. The Carpentry Factory and Forge still stand there, but now house a television studio and a hotel. In Noord, the shipyard grew to become the largest in Europe, building the world's most powerful seagoing vessels. After merging with the repair yard NDM, the shipyard was called NDSM. The shipyard flourished, but in the 1960s and 1970s, the Dutch shipbuilding industry was hit by a crisis. Cheap Asians developed an industrial efficiency that later surprised the automotive, television, and audio industries. In 1984, the NDSM brand went bankrupt. The NDSM East shipyard has been out of use for years; it is now the Pompeii of Amsterdam shipbuilding. The old Hensen crane 13 has been converted into a luxury hotel (Crane Hotel Faralda), the slipways are offices, and the large warehouses form Europe's largest artists' breeding ground. However, the repair docks on the west side of the former NDSM shipyard are still operating at full capacity. Under the name Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam, the shipyard, just as NDSM once did, focuses on large repair orders. They do this with magnificent cranes that once worked for NDSM. This still-functioning NDSM shipyard was recently declared a national importance by the provincial and national governments – and considered indispensable to the country's defense.

HEINEKEN – beer

As early as 1317, it was decreed that ships sailing in Dutch waters carrying foreign beer (mostly from Hamburg) were required to call at the port of Amsterdam. The beer toll law ensured that North German hop beer was traded en masse through Amsterdam. Only after a while did Amsterdammers realize they could import the raw materials themselves. Breweries sprang up in the city to brew beer. Quite a feat, as there was nothing in the Amsterdam area to brew with. No grain, no hops, and no clean water. Using imported ingredients—water brought in by barges from the Vecht River, grain from the Baltic Sea—the city began producing its own beer. Initially, this was a small affair, but soon more breweries appeared. At one point, an entire quay on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal was dedicated to the beer trade—the Bierkaai. Amsterdam still boasts many breweries, but the most famous long-standing brewer is, of course, Heineken. Founder Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought the De Hooiberg brewery in 1864, and in 1873, he put his own name on the brewery and its beer bottles. He focused on brewing a refreshing pilsner. Brewing beer was practically a scientifically controlled process for him, complete with a laboratory. As early as 1875, he won the French Medallion d'Or with Heineken beer, after which he became France's largest beer importer. The brewery on Stadhouderskade was the most important in the country for a long time. Today, the beer is brewed in Zoeterwoude and 's-Hertogenbosch. In Amsterdam, the brewery has been converted into the Heineken Experience. Outside the Netherlands, this pilsner is brewed, along with 300 other beer brands, in 38 countries by a total of approximately 39.000 employees. The company's annual turnover is approaching 36 billion euros.

GUNTERS AND MEUSER – hardware

The history of the hardware store Gunters and Meuser dates back to 1826. That year, mason Gunters suffered a fatal fall from scaffolding. His death left 20-year-old Jan the breadwinner. The boy became a peddler in the Jordaan district, selling iron shoe hardware and shoemaking tools. Eventually, a small shop opened on Prinsengracht, where his mother, the widow Gunters, worked behind the counter. This led to the development of a hardware store, which has been located on the corner of Prinsengracht and Egelantiersgracht since 1875. The business thrived, and in 1917, the building was replaced by a new building in the Amsterdam School style. Above the wooden shopfront, even in 2025, we can still read the company name in striking iron letters: "Handel in IJzerwaren" (Handel in IJzerwaren). In the twentieth century, the store became one of the most renowned hardware stores in the city. Shops were added and at the beginning of this century Gunters en Meuser, while retaining the name, became part of the national Isero network.

AJAX – football

Ajax cannot be left out of this description – the club's name recognition is probably as great as that of Heineken and Shell. The football club was founded on March 18, 1900. For its first seven seasons, the club played in Amsterdam-Noord, where it had two pitches. A curious coincidence is that Ajax's first pitch in Noord was on Middenweg. In 1907, the club moved to the road of the same name in the neighboring municipality of Watergraafsmeer, which was annexed by Amsterdam in 1921. Ajax quickly became one of the top clubs in the Netherlands, but it wasn't until the late 1960s – under the leadership of manager Rinus Michels and star player Johan Cruyff – that the club achieved world fame. Playing with number 14, Cruyff was the embodiment of modernity, idiosyncrasy, and Amsterdam bluff. Along with Rinus Michels and other top players, Ajax introduced "total football." Its essence was tactical sophistication, combined with refined touch and unassailable fighting spirit. Instead of the old English kick-and-rush football, where the team with the best strikers wins, midfielders and defenders became equally important. It was fortunate that Ajax had a genius, but wingers and speedy full-backs just as often spearheaded the attack and delivered crosses on a silver platter. A hard-working player with an unparalleled running ability, Johan Neeskens, became a star. The brash charisma of the long-haired Ajax hippies who led the club's winning streak in the early 1970s was unparalleled (three European Cup winners, one World Cup winner, one UEFA Super Cup). In this overview, Ajax is the only company that started as a club.

KETJEN – chemistry

In 1835, Gerard Tileman Ketjen started a sulfuric acid factory near Leidseplein. At that time, this was the southern city boundary, dotted with windmills. These were gradually replaced by steam factories with smoking and smelling chimneys. What is now Amsterdam-Zuid was the industrial backside of the city at that time. But the privately-run Nieuwe Park (soon renamed Vondelpark) built between the factories brought about a major shift between the north and south sides of the city. The centuries-old facade on the IJ became a gray backside, partly due to the completion of Central Station in 1889. The industrial backside on the south side was transformed into a stately front by the park and the many cultural venues, including the Concertgebouw and the Rijksmuseum. The Amsterdam elite, led by prominent and powerful notables like Samuel Sarphati, Christiaan Pieter van Eeghen, and Joseph Alberdingk Thijm, placed all their resources (and money) on developing this area and the surrounding neighborhoods. They understood, however, that their Vondelpark neighborhood would remain unattractive to wealthy inner-city residents as long as factories were ubiquitous. Ketjen was arguably the most hated factory – a boiler regularly exploded, sending sulfurous fumes all the way to Leidseplein. In 1901, the upscale developers managed to force the factory to relocate to Amsterdam-Noord. Ketjen still occupies this location on the northern bank of the IJ River. It grew from a sulfuric acid producer into a full-fledged chemical company. In 1937, Ketjen was granted the "royal" designation. In the twentieth century, the factory was part of AkzoNobel for a time. During those years, the name Ketjen disappeared from the factory's chimney. It is now owned by the American company Albemarle and is once again called Ketjen. In Amsterdam-Noord, the factory is known as the "cloud factory" because of its white clouds. Ketjen has stopped producing sulfuric acid and is now focusing on the production of catalysts. The explosion risk is much lower, but recently the factory again found itself in conflict with the municipality, which wants to build a residential area with 6.500 homes, the Hamerkwartier, at this prime location on the IJ River. Because the municipality allegedly lacked a clear understanding of the risks surrounding the chemical plant, the Council of State annulled the zoning plan for part of the residential area.

GASSAN – diamonds and jewelry

Spinoza was not only a groundbreaking philosopher but also an excellent lens grinder. In Jewish history, it's striking that certain professions and industries are strongly represented. Lens grinding, for example, but also the diamond industry. The latter is due to Sephardic Jews' international trade contacts in areas where diamonds were found. It was also because the guild system excluded Jews from many crafts. This complex specialty flourished in Jewish Amsterdam. The diamond industry was hit hard by the Second World War. Due to the murder of most of the Jewish diamond grinders, much knowledge and expertise was no longer available after the war. Amsterdam was overtaken as a diamond capital by cities like Antwerp. It is thanks to the efforts of a few remaining diamond traders that Amsterdam maintained a strong position. Immediately after the war, in October 1945, Samuel Gassan established his diamond cutting business. Gassan Diamonds was both a wholesaler and a retailer. By 1950, they already employed 23 people. Over the past 75 years, it has grown into one of the leading diamond and jewelry dealers in the Netherlands. The family business has been led for years by Benno Leeser, the uncrowned diamond king of the Netherlands.

SHELL – energy

Amsterdam was smart and innovative from the very beginning, but for its energy supply, the city, situated in the Dutch peat meadow area, like the rest of the Netherlands, relied on the fossil fuel peat until well into the nineteenth century. In the increasingly barren North Holland landscape, treewood was scarce, while classic windmills fell out of favor over the course of the nineteenth century. During the steam age, the industrial world switched to generating energy from coal combustion. Amsterdam and the rest of the country thus threatened to become dependent on foreign fuels. It is no coincidence that the emergence of a new global energy source, which quickly consigned the steam age to history, took shape in Amsterdam. In the then Dutch colony of Indonesia, they discovered the then virtually unknown petroleum liquid oil. This was transported to Amsterdam. In 1905, a paraffin factory opened on the northern bank of the IJ River, which in 1914 became the Laboratory of the Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, soon after renamed Shell. Shell's laboratories successfully processed crude oil to make it the world's most important fuel. Throughout the twentieth century, Shell developed a range of related oil products, such as Heineken's plastic beer crates. Although the oil company's global headquarters has been transformed into the A'DAM Tower, Shell's new Energy Transition Centre Amsterdam (ETCA) stands just a stone's throw from where it all began 120 years ago. Willem-Alexander, then still a prince, opened the new building in 2009. Shell's main research center is designed as a business campus. It increasingly focuses on clean energy and the energy transition. It resembles a corporate headquarters rather than an industrial laboratory complex.

KESBEKE – pickles

"Onions and pickles with that?" is the invariable question from every Amsterdam herring vendor. This Amsterdam tradition is partly thanks to CJR Kesbeke Fijne Tafelzuren, an Amsterdam family business specializing in pickles, onions, and silverskin onions. Charles Kesbeke started a pickling factory in a basement on Waterlooplein in 1948. Gherkins and onions were washed, brined, packed in glass jars, and pasteurized. The pickles were sold as delicacies through street vendors and in pubs and factories. The family business is currently run by Oos Kesbeke (third generation) and his sons. In 2015, the company won the Amsterdam Business Award. And two years later, Oos Kesbeke won the Amsterdam Entrepreneurship Award, for being "a creative and innovative entrepreneur who constantly raises the bar and knows how to motivate his employees every day."

VAN DOBBEN – croquettes

Eetsalon Van Dobben is the story of Eugenie Laaper and Aat van Dobben. As a young woman, Eugenie worked in an Amsterdam sandwich shop where a certain Aat supplied the meat. They fell in love, and Aat was able to rent a building on Korte Regulierdwarsstraat. They married on June 28, 1945, the day Eetsalon Van Dobben officially opened. From the very beginning, the croquette was a central theme and quickly became a household name in Amsterdam. So did the salon itself, which attracted an increasing number of artists, famous footballers, and various Amsterdammers. The croquettes were prepared on Kerkstraat. Orders were placed with the kitchen on Kerkstraat via a bicycle repair shop across from the salon, which had a telephone. The breaded meat dishes, kept warm with charcoal, were then delivered to the sandwich shop. By 2025, Eetsalon Van Dobben now has its own telephone and is world-famous in Amsterdam (and beyond).

Amsterdam owes its success to gogme

In the seventeenth century, our capital became the most important city in the world. This was largely thanks to merchants with gogme. This cleverness can be seen as a combination of intelligence, daring, and the ability to sense other people. Gogme is a Yiddish concept derived from the Hebrew word "chochma." Like many other Yiddish words, it has become part of Amsterdam's urban vernacular. In the first half of the 20th century, the concept was primarily associated with shrewd trading. But it also encompassed the street-boy wisdom of knowing where to be, when to be, and what to do in any given situation. At the end of the 20th century, when Louis van Gaal associated it with Ajax, the meaning of (game) insight was added.

Every successful Amsterdam entrepreneur possesses a high degree of ingenuity, otherwise, your trade won't stand out in Amsterdam's hectic and tough markets. As early as the late Middle Ages, the market on Dam Square, conveniently located on the IJ River, attracted traders and merchants from far and wide. They displayed a particularly strong focus on trade. With clever maneuvers, Amsterdam merchants managed to secure an especially favorable economic position. The toll privilege of 1275—which we celebrate as the city's birthday—can be considered the first clever trade agreement. Count Floris V granted Amsterdam merchants no tax if they wanted to transport their goods through the County of Holland. This was beneficial for their margins. This clever move was followed by a series of other clever steps. The miracle of 1345 is famous. In the fourteenth century, Amsterdam was still less crowded than cities like Gouda, Dordrecht, and Utrecht. Amsterdam merchants could use a miracle. Shortly after, "the miracle of Amsterdam" occurred. On March 15, 1345, a dying fisherman living on Kalverstraat received a host from a priest. He later vomited the host, and the vomit was thrown into the fire. The next day, the host floated undamaged above the fire. The testimonies were so well-constructed that the miracle received episcopal recognition. This was a risky undertaking, as false testimony risked the death penalty. But lo and behold, after 1345, Amsterdam became an international pilgrimage site for wealthy travelers seeking relief from their suffering and forgiveness of sins. A major boost for the trading city.

Thus, storytellers and merchants from medieval Amsterdam laid the foundation for the "Golden Age." One problem, however, seemed almost insurmountable: the rising water that threatened to overwhelm the dikes during storm surges. A clever solution had to be devised to discharge this excess water. Consideration was given to large canals around the city, which could drain the excess water. But what about impassable canals around your city? Amsterdam, with astonishing cleverness, turned necessity into a virtue. In 1613, the decision was made to build the canal belt. The canals were shaped like a semicircular bastion. The waterfront houses were a magnet for wealthy merchants who liked to build their mansions near their warehouses. The canals provided the perfect means of transport to the port in the IJ River.

After this ingenious building plan, Amsterdam remained clever, shrewd, and innovative in later centuries. Incidentally, Gogme shouldn't be seen as academic or intellectual cleverness, but rather as intuitive intelligence. Cleverness, reason, and (game) insight. It also involves decisiveness. This trait manifests itself in situations where a certain goal can be achieved, such as closing a deal or playing a game. The final, but not entirely unimportant, aspect of Gogme lies in empathy. In Gogme, this generally has a somewhat instrumental or opportunistic character—being too kind is not a Gogme trait.