The story of Weidenaar.frl

“The Frisian identity is what made Weidenaar grow. A .frl domain was a must.”

Weidenaar’s Frisian dry sausage has been a household name since 1927. Since then, the family business has gone through many developments. Now, after three generations, it employs more than 80 people, has a large butchery and sausage-making facility in Dokkum and has expanded its product range considerably. Wini Weidenaar, youngest daughter of the third generation, talks about the company and why it is so important to propagate their Frisian pride.

A tasty history

“I started helping my father in the shop when I was 12 years old. I used to stand behind the counter of the shop in our hometown of Niawier. My parents used to go on holiday to Schiermonnikoog where my father ‘refused’ to buy the meat in the supermarket on the island. He spoke to the owner about the quality. Whereupon the supermarket owner in turn challenged my father to do better, so it happened. From then on, Weidenaar started supplying meat to various places in Friesland, and later beyond.”  

Sustainable choices for the future

Now my brother is in charge. In 2014, the company moved from Niawier to Dokkum. My brother also makes sure the company keeps developing. In Dokkum, we have already expanded five times. But the family recipe is almost exactly the same as my ‘pake’ used to make the dry sausage. We only add less salt now. That’s healthier. We are also committed to sustainability. For instance, the roof is full of solar panels and we use heat from cooling and freezing to heat water. We have no residual product because we process all parts of the meat in our minced meat and/or dry sausage. There is an organic product line and we use 30% less plastic compared to last year. The plastic we use is recycled, which is quite unique in this industry.

The strong Frisian identity

Frisian at heart, we are proud of our identity. Logically, we want to show where we come from. It’s deep in our DNA, and it shows in the products we make. I spent five years trying to bring in Albert Heijn. You can imagine how happy we were when that happened. A representative of the supermarket then said to me: ‘You are Frisian, so reliable. When you say ‘yes’, it really means yes.’ In the retail world, that makes you distinctive in that. It would be almost stupid not to use that to your advantage!

A strong brand

The packaging of our products has a Frisian touch. Whether you are a fan of Groningen dry sausage, love Spanish chorizo, enjoy a Drenthe dry sausage or invariably find Riperkrite grill sausage in your basket – the colours of the Frisian flag and pompeblêd show off on all our products. Our website also contributes to this profiling. With Weidenaar.frl, we give our customers a reliable feeling. That is very valuable for building a bond with the customer. So we continue to grow steadily and make high-quality products in Dokkum. For Friesland, but also definitely beyond!”

Curious what that looks like? Check out this video!

Do you also want to build a strong brand? Check if your .frl domain is available!