Taets turns into epicenter for cheese industry
Wow! A quick glance at the Taets Art and Event Park website shows that the waterfront property consists of no less than four buildings with multiple event spaces. From intimate and cozy to grand modern or industrial with character; on the Taets grounds in Zaandam you can still go either way. And that is exactly what Henry van der Loo, co-owner of Vanderloo events, has been waxing lyrical about for over ten years. Henry: 'The diversity is so nice! You can put any type of event there.' Last fall, it was a private cheese fair for about a thousand guests for which space Yada Yada was used.
Vanderloo events has now existed for 41 years, the last 23 of which have been led by the second generation of Van der Loo's; brothers Henry and Laurens.
Henry: "With our event agency, we offer total solutions when organizing events. We do everything from concept development to set construction and from production to an evacuation plan. That includes finding a suitable location. As such, we now know Taets very well as a location. You can go there for events from intimate format to large. And big means really big; up to over 12,000 visitors!
Cheese professionals among themselves
Just as Vanderloo is a family business, so is Velder - the largest cheese distributor in the Netherlands. Every other year Velder organizes a real cheese event, where they create opportunities for their supporters to invite relations. A classic fair, but around everything that breathes cheese. Henry: "For this fair Velder had a number of wishes for a location. It had to be easily accessible, have enough parking spaces and be able to facilitate enough power for cooling all the cheeses. We quickly ended up with Taets, because we also knew that in terms of square footage it was perfect for this size event - including everything that comes with it.'
The experience around cheese
Every event starts with a good concept. So the Vanderloo team sat down with the Velder team for a brainstorming session. Henry: 'Cheese suppliers, decor builders, chefs, the hospitality team: it's important to make the concept clear to everyone, so that it is implemented properly in all areas. Of course cheese and a drink go hand in hand, but for this fair we wanted to give the craft around cheese a modern twist.' The theme became "Tastify: tasting, seeing and smelling cheese. After a route along sixty stands of cheese suppliers, the visitor arrives at the catering square with live cooking with cheese, cheese pairing with beer and wine, cheese tastings and especially a lot of conviviality. Henry: "Velder wanted to use the fair not only to inform people, but also to bring them together. The hospitality square was of course the ideal place to network in the middle of a world of cheese.'
Dairy, dairy and more dairy
On the same day, Vanderloo events at Taets organized another event by another dairy giant: Friesland Campina. The idea behind this much smaller event was to go back to the craft. Henry: 'It was about a private breakfast and lunch for the management team. One of the finest things about Taets is the versatility and diversity of buildings on the grounds. A more intimate setup in one of the smaller buildings is just as easy as setting up something big in one of the large event spaces and in this case it was of course also very practical for us that both events took place on the same grounds. This created a nice cross-pollination, as Velder invited Friesland Campina to their fair. If you ask Henry about a second fine characteristic of Taets, he says without hesitation: 'We always feel welcome! Even if an event has to take place at short notice, we can almost always assume the answer is 'yes.'
Text by Bianca Hidajat
