100 years of experience

makes beef better

About us

Goedegebuur is a genuine, Rotterdam family firm. A successful business, now run by the fourth generation. The experience and expertise that we have built up in our hundred years’ existence, mean that we know what we’re talking about like no one else. We know our craft through and through, have contacts all over the place, and trailblaze with ambitious plans for the future. We are committed to the quality in which we believe, and we work professionally and responsibly. We owe our good name to it.

1922

Cornelis (Cor) Goedegebuur opens the first butcher’s shop in Melissant.

1942

Jacobus (Koos) Goedegebuur, Cornelis’s son, completes his butcher’s training at the Rotterdamse Slagersvakopleiding (SVO).

1950

Large-scale butchery at the municipal abattoir in Crooswijk in Rotterdam marks the beginning of Goedegebuur as an industrial enterprise.

1977

Completion and inauguration of the Naaldwijk abattoir.

1987

Opening of the newly built Rotterdam Cattle Abattoir (Rotterdams Runderslachthuis) at the Groothandelsmarkt.

1995

Goedegebuur takes a new direction. The slaughter of cattle stops being our principal activity and we specialise in boning hindquarters instead.

2007

Goedegebuur is the first meat processing company in The Netherlands to obtain ISO 22000 certification.

2011

Goedegebuur moves to data-driven production lines.

2012

Extension of the main office and production facilities at the Groothandelsmarkt in Rotterdam.

2014

Goedegebuur commits to an official Partnership with Unicef.

2015

Goedegebuur wins the 31st Rotterdam Entrepreneurship Prize.

2022

Party – Goedegebuur celebrates 100 years!

The best quality without an aftertaste

At Goedegebuur we are continuously building upon an impressive and successful history. Over the last century, we have done our utmost every day to guarantee the best quality for our customers.

We have been hindquarter specialists for decades. We supply butchers, restaurants, retailers, wholesalers, and meat processors in Europe and beyond with carefully selected, premium beef. We are aware that meat-eating has a major impact upon the world in which we live, so we work exclusively with 100% dual-purpose cows at Goedegebuur. This allows us to supply the best quality beef while guaranteeing a significantly lower footprint. Of course, the lowest footprint comes from eating less or different meat. Goedegebuur is also having thoughts about this. You can find our plans and further goals for a sustainable future here.

Craftsmanship, operational excellence and a responsible look at the impact and future of meat. All the strands come together at Goedegebuur. Simply said, we offer more than just a piece of meat; we also ensure peace of mind. For that alone, Goedegebuur is synonymous with the Better Beef.

The best quality without an aftertaste

Purpose

Responsible meat, because we only work with dual-purpose cows.

Keeping an open mind to the future makes beef better

Goedegebuur has built itself a superb reputation over the last hundred years. We are known for our first-class quality beef and service and have also made a name for ourselves through our socially responsible way of working. Our operations are run according to ISO 26000 guidelines and principles. In line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, we maintain a practical balance between People, Planet & Profit.

To achieve good things, you need to set a good example. This is our guiding principle at Goedegebuur as we strive for continual improvement. This means that we invest in good employment practices to improve the level of our employees through training, onboarding, and remuneration, we are tireless in our efforts to increase the sustainability of our processes and we take concrete steps to reduce our water and energy consumption. In addition, we carry out research into better, more environmentally friendly packaging and we do our utmost to ensure that we produce as little waste as possible. Goedegebuur also shows its best side to the outside world. For example, we have been making a significant contribution to Unicef’s good work since 2014, we free up our employees to volunteer at the food bank and in other social initiatives, and our management drives exclusively electric vehicles.

At Goedegebuur we are proud of our past, but we also avoid getting stuck in it. Together, we have identified seven priorities. Seven dots on the horizon as the basis for a strategic multi-year plan, ranging from our selection and quality to sustainability and the story that we want to tell. Current themes at which we want to excel to continue the successes of the last hundred years.

Of course, sustainability is one of these themes. Greater care for the climate and the influence our consumer-behaviour has upon it compel all of us to make different and better choices. We already offer the most sustainable choices within the beef industry with our exclusively European, dual-purpose meat and highly efficient production guaranteeing the lowest CO2 emissions per product. But the challenge is to go even further. If our world is to stay liveable, we will have to eat less or different meat. The current system has met our needs for meat in a good way for decades, but the growing global population, and the strain it places on natural resources, means that we cannot continue in the same way as before. We need a new way of thinking and producing.

At Goedegebuur, we want to play an active role in this transition, without obliterating the current system, and our history alongside it. Therefore, we conduct research into new products that can meet our stringent quality standards. Our sustainability ambitions are not without obligations. We work with clearly measurable goals, communicate the results we achieve openly and honestly, and have engaged an external climate partner to monitor our progress.

Goedegebuur is rooted at the heart of our society. The world faces a future that is our future too. We are confident of our own abilities and profoundly motivated to find different and new ways forward. At Goedegebuur, we are open to everything, just as we have been for the last hundred years. Our success hasn’t come from resting on our laurels but is the reward of having made the right choices and having acted upon them consistently and with discipline.

 

Michiel Goedegebuur

Order the better beef from Goedegebuur. European meat of the highest quality with a significantly lower footprint.

“Every time we receive Goedegebuur their products, it’s a guaranteed success.”