With Berk Partners , Wouter Jansen van Velsen attracted an investor to further grow together with Mocca d'Or via a buy & build strategy. In the process, well-known coffee roaster Peeze was the first to be added to the newly formed Coffee Growth Group. "I feel like a steward of these businesses.
With experience at Grolsch, Unilever and Heinz, Wouter Jansen van Velsen began his entrepreneurial career in 2010. He took over Mocca d'Or, a coffee roasting company from Zwolle with a rich history of almost one hundred years. In the years that followed, he took over Santas Koffie, YesPlease and Café del Mar. This enabled him to build scale in a still fragmented coffee market. Under his leadership, Mocca d'Or grew into a top-3 player in the on-trade market, alongside established international brands such as Douwe Egberts and Italian Lavazza.
At the same time, Jansen van Velsen felt he was primarily a steward: he wanted to pass the business on to the next generation in a future-proof way, not necessarily to his own children. 'I don't want to saddle my children with the business. They have to find their own way,' he says of his two daughters, who both work in education, and his 18-year-old son, who is doing a gap year.
Search for partner
After almost sixteen years, Mocca d'Or was therefore ready for a new phase. The business had to maintain its leading position, continue to grow, and larger acquisitions had to become possible. This required capital, while the pressure from regulations in the Netherlands and especially from Europe increased.
Jansen van Velsen began his search for an external partner without an adviser. He drew up a long list of potential parties, mainly private equity, and set hard conditions: no majority interest and retention of day-to-day management. In the end, the choice fell on Berk Partners, the investment company that once began as the family office of the late Ben Pon, former race car driver, entrepreneur and investor. 'It immediately felt familiar. Their culture aligns perfectly with ours and it is an investor who can guide us to the next phase,' says Jansen van Velsen.
Holy Week
Jansen van Velsen and Berk Partners then jointly founded the Coffee Growth Group, a new coffee alliance into which Mocca d'Or was incorporated. The first follow-up step was not long in coming: in May 2025, Peeze from Arnhem, a family-owned company with more than 15 million euros in revenue, was added to Coffee Growth Group. This strategic acquisition enabled the group to strengthen its position in the Dutch coffee market and grow further. Both Peeze and the businesses within Mocca d'Or (Santas Koffie, Cafe del Mar and YesPlease) will continue to operate independently alongside each other.
Talks with Peeze had begun three years earlier, but did not come to a deal then. With Berk Partners on board, the takeover could now go ahead thanks to more financial clout, and it immediately proved to be a test case for the collaboration. Jansen van Velsen: "Going into business with an investor feels a bit like a marriage. The honeymoon period is always exciting, but the cooperation with Berk Partners was fantastic from the start.
A steward again
In principle, no new acquisitions are planned for the rest of 2025, although talks are ongoing with potential takeover candidates. In the meantime, Jansen van Velsen also feels he is already steward of Peeze. 'I want to secure the future of that too.' Like Mocca d'Or, Peeze is known for sustainable coffee and strong relationships in the hospitality industry - a logical addition within the group.
At the same time, he remains true to the core of Mocca d'Or: the focus is on the out-of-home marketand not retail, so that hospitality entrepreneurs retain exclusivity. Jansen van Velsen: "I don't see any point in ending up on the supermarket shelf with our coffee. If Mocca d'Or or Peeze is on the shelf there, the hospitality entrepreneur loses the distinctive offering that attracts customers to his business.'
With a passion and focus on quality coffee, trusted customer relationships and social responsibility, the Coffee Growth Group should continue to grow in the coming years, thanks in part to the financial and strategic support of Berk Partners. 'With the growing scale, all brands within the group do need to gain a stronger position in the challenging coffee market,' said Jansen van Velsen.
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