{"id":2991,"date":"2026-01-29T15:50:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T14:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/gerd-jan-hooijmans-chooses-the-family-business-with-full-conviction\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T09:52:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T08:52:04","slug":"gerd-jan-hooijmans-chooses-the-family-business-with-full-conviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/gerd-jan-hooijmans-chooses-the-family-business-with-full-conviction\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerd-Jan Hooijmans chooses the family business with full conviction."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Gerd-Jan Hooijmans chooses the family business with full conviction.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

If mushrooms are on your menu about five times a week, it\u2019s almost inevitable that you develop a passion for them. That is certainly true for Gerd-Jan Hooijmans. As he puts it himself: \u2018The mushroom is truly an undervalued product. It\u2019s super healthy\u2014everyone should really be eating it.\u2019 It therefore wasn\u2019t a difficult decision for him to focus on this pure natural product. Not as a grower, but as a producer of the substrate that forms the basis for mushroom cultivation, within his family\u2019s business. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From holiday worker to all-round employee<\/strong>
From the age of fourteen, Gerd-Jan was already involved in the family business. In the beginning mainly during school holidays: \u201cOn Saturdays I always played football, and on Sundays Ajax played. So of course I couldn\u2019t work,\u201d he says with a laugh. Gerd-Jan started out cleaning the tunnels, but quickly became familiar with almost all departments. He operated the loader, helped out on the export packaging line, and worked alongside the logistics team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his first year of studies, Gerd-Jan obtained his truck driver\u2019s license, after which he was often on the road visiting customers. He also gained experience in the office, including in the planning department: \u201cThat\u2019s where my experience in production and behind the wheel really came in handy. It felt like all the puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A conscious choice after his studies<\/strong>
After completing his studies in Organization and Management Studies, all options within the family business were open to Gerd-Jan. He first wanted to gain experience outside the sector and therefore worked at ASML during his master\u2019s program. \u201cA really great time,\u201d he reflects. \u201cBut the urge to start working back home never went away. At the end of that period, I said to my parents, \u2018I\u2019m starting next week.\u2019 And that was the end of the application process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, two years later, he feels more than at home. \u201cI really want to get to know every part of the organization thoroughly. The years of holiday work helped me a lot with that\u2014you understand faster how things fit together. But I still learn something new every day, both from people within our organization, in the sector, or beyond. That keeps me motivated.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning from colleagues and growers<\/strong>
Besides working within the organization, Gerd-Jan is often on the road. \u201cI visit growers, meet suppliers, and participate in various study groups. I want to get to know the sector as well as possible.\u201d In doing so, he clearly follows in the footsteps of his father, Jan, who mastered the craft of making substrate in the same way: by observing, asking questions, and, above all, gaining hands-on experience.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question everyone asks<\/strong>
And then the big question: Will Gerd-Jan become the future successor of the family business? He doesn\u2019t have to think long: \u201cI get so much energy from this. I\u2019m really excited about it and want to keep developing the company. So yes, I absolutely see myself doing that.\u201d
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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gerd-Jan Hooijmans chooses the family business with full conviction. If mushrooms are on your menu about five times a week, it\u2019s almost inevitable that you develop a passion for them. That is certainly true for Gerd-Jan Hooijmans. As he puts it himself: \u2018The mushroom is truly an undervalued product. It\u2019s super healthy\u2014everyone should really be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Gerd-Jan Hooijmans kiest vol overtuiging voor het familiebedrijf","_seopress_titles_desc":"Gerd-Jan Hooijmans kiest bewust voor het familiebedrijf. Van vakantiekracht tot allround medewerker met een passie voor champignons en substraat.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-us","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2991"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3031,"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions\/3031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hooymanssubstrates.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}