Family businesses are the cornerstone of the economy. From parent to child, they demonstrate development from the past. At the same time, as companies of the long haul, they look far ahead. In this series, MASTERS portrays family businesses with a story. This installment focuses on Simonis, which began in 1880 as an eel smokehouse and has since grown to become the largest fish seller in the court city, with its pillars of freshness, good value for money and varied offerings: from kibbeling in the fish snack bar on the boulevard to sea bass fillet with truffle in the trendy Encore on the marina. MASTERS vis-a-vis with the fourth generation: brothers Alain (1983) and Giovanni (1989) and sisters Naomi (1996) and Joëlle Simonis (1986).Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer
Online editing: Fleur de Jong
Image: John van HelvertSimonis is a household name in The Hague and far and wide. A family business with a love of fish, generation after generation. It began in 1880, when Albert Simonis opened a café and smokehouse on The Hague's Westeinde. His son Albert junior and his wife Geer took over and from 1935 onwards it was impossible to imagine The Hague market without them. They sold thousands of pounds of eel per week. The season runs from May to September. During the rest of the year they do other business, such as textiles. When the eel business declined, partly due to catch limits, the third generation - Wil, Herman and Allie - started a fish store on the Gedempte Gracht in 1966. It still exists today, with an attached restaurant. In 1980, for environmental reasons, the eel smokehouse had to be removed from the city center and moved to the harbor. There, on the Visafslagweg, Simonis aan de Haven was opened, which initially began as a smokehouse (no nuisance for the neighbors there). Because the eel-smoking boys are constantly disturbed by people who want to buy this delicacy, the location is expanded to include a small store and later seating areas for guests who want to consume their portion on the spot. Payment is made immediately and customers are given a number. When their food is ready, for example a portion of kibbeling, plaice, shrimp or squid rings, the number is called out through the store in plain Hague dialect. It's still like that today. After several renovations, Simonis aan de Haven is now an ultra-modern combination fish store and fish restaurant. Several locations follow: with beach bar Simonis aan Zee, after the market, the city and the harbor, the family also has a presence on the Scheveningen beach from 2001; in 2002, a fish snack bar on the boulevard, opposite the Scheveningen pier, follows; in 2013, the classic fish restaurant Catch by Simonis on the second inner harbor is opened, followed four years later - a hundred meters away - by the trendy Encore by Simonis. What began in the late nineteenth century as an eel smokehouse has grown into a multimillion-dollar business consisting of several specialty fish stores: currently seven permanent establishments and three market stands. For all of them, fish is the basis of everything. It is in the Simonis family's blood, it flows through their veins. Simonis is led by the now fourth generation, consisting of brothers Alain and Giovanni and sisters Naomi and Joëlle, the children of Allie and Joyce, who has also always worked in the business. The children of Allie's brother Herman are also in the business. "Actually, we're the fifth generation, because my great-great-grandfather was already taking eels past the door and past pubs. But the business itself really started with the smokehouse and at the market. "What are your first memories of the business?
Alain: "I didn't consciously experience my grandfather, he died when I was three. When I could just walk, we had the fish store at the Visafslag and our place at the Haagse Markt. From the age of eleven, twelve, I went with my father on Saturdays to the market, where it also started for my grandparents. Discarding garbage, cutting off pieces of fish to proportion it, chores like that. Besides my school, sports and studies, I tried to go along as often as possible. I stood in all places, from the stall to the store to the restaurant. Simonis grew and grew. As the years went by, our knowledge expanded and during our travels we came across new products. Take Simonis on the Harbour. When it turned out that people who came to store there preferred to eat fish as well, a few tables were set up. That's how it went. Currently, between 30,000 and 35,000 diners visit the restaurant every week. "Was it expected that you would also enter the business?
Alain: "Our father always said, 'You have to do what you like.' But he did hint that we could do our part and possibly pass the business on to the next generation. That became more and more alive. The moment I went to Rotterdam to study at Erasmus University, I already knew that one day I wanted a role in the family business. Partly because I could then work for myself, do my own business. When I used to go to the market with my father, we would first pick up merchandise from our store on Visafslagweg and from a salmon smokehouse a little further down the road. In those years there were a lot of immigrants at the Haagse Markt, for whom the trimmings from smoked salmon, such as bones and guts, were very popular - they made soup from them. My father offered me a choice one day: either I would get my pay at the end of the day, or I could make my own earnings by trying to sell the cases of salmon. I chose my wages at the time; that gave a guarantee. But I saw that those salmon sold easily. That's how my father taught me the principles of entrepreneurship."
Giovanni: "I always wanted to be a doctor and went to study Medicine in Leiden. Once I did my internships, I found out that hospital life didn't suit me at all. I had always enjoyed helping out in the family business as a side job and knew: this is it after all. The blood runs where it can't go. I had every opportunity, took them, but in the end I chose to go into the family business. Since 2017, I have been in it full-time and am the manager of Simonis aan de Haven."
Naomi: "With me, it started with dishes and dishes at Simonis aan de Haven, and I also worked at the market. When I was sixteen, Catch started. That really became my side job. From the first day the restaurant was open, I knew: this is what I want to do later! After high school, I first went to the Hotel School for a year and a half, but that wasn't it for me. That's why I switched to Marketing Communications. I finished that course at the end of 2021. By then I was already in the management of Catch together with Joëlle. "Photo: Interior Catch by SimonisWhatchanges in consumer behavior have you observed over the years?
Giovanni: "In the store we sell much less whole fish. Consumers no longer want a bone in their fish; everything has to be filleted."
Alain: "And the consumer has become lazier. They would rather push a button to have it brought to them than go somewhere to get something. Especially the past two years, during corona, that was very noticeable."
What impact has corona had on Simonis?
Alain: "It's run or stand still with us, and the last two years have been stand still. That brings uncertainty. How do we move forward? Do we need to stand still for a while? But I think we handled it okay in itself. It was a lot of fast switching."
Giovanni: "We had to go into survival mode: cut costs, try to do as much as possible ourselves..."
Naomi: "...and stay creative, don't throw in the towel."
Alain: "The biggest impact was on Catch and Encore, because we are full restaurant there. At least Simonis on the Harbour still has the store, which has only gotten better. The first lockdown was a bit of a scare, but it didn't last long. During the second lockdown, we started delivering nationwide, and we haven't stopped doing that since. That way we were able to keep staff busy. Because that was the focus: that our regular workers could keep their jobs. Those boxes also kept us in the picture and attracted a different audience. After the second lockdown, a lot of people who had ordered a box visited Catch or Encore for the first time."
Naomi: "And when the third lockdown arrived, we knew what we had to do: put together boxes again, order stickers... Everything we did in the second lockdown as well. So we were able to move quickly."
Alain: "And we were lucky that MASTERS EXPO could still just go on at the beginning of the third lockdown. At the fair we had three locations, which allowed us to give fifty people work for five days. We made many good contacts at the fair for meetings, company drinks and events. Now it's waiting for everything to be allowed again."
Read the entire interview with Alain, Giovanni, Naomi and Joëlle Simonis? The spring issue of MASTERS celebrates regained freedom after two years of corona. Its value is underlined by developments in Eastern Europe, where the freedom of an entire people is at stake. We live in a new reality, but we can plan again, eat out, meet people. The world is turning again! Only: which way? Time for new bridges, new initiatives. To which this edition of MASTERS offers inspiration.
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