History

Janneke the baker

The tradition of Biscuits Bofin dates back to the year 1872. In this year Jan Van den Wijngaert - known as "Janneke the baker" - was born. He started working as an apprentice dough mixer and at the age of 16 he became a baker himself. Business was going so well that his 3 brothers had to start helping him out. Unfortunately his military service puts an end to all this. In 1897 he married Ludwina Portael, daughter of Jakke Portael, who ran a flourishing tavern / grocery store. Janneke and his wife rented a house and he started baking bread again. He took care of the deliveries himself to the nearby villages. After a while he also ran his father in law's tavern / grocery store. In 1899 he had a new house built at Mechelbaan, in which he continued his bakery / tavern / grocery store.

Marcel and Jules

In 1924 Marcel and Jules - the more enterprising of Janneke's 5 sons - bought their father's bakery. In 1925 they built a new, larger bakery across the street. In 1931 they stopped baking bread to focus on speculose, gingerbread and small biscuits. In 1935 the building had to be enlarged. After the war there was a disagreement between the two, which leads to a buy-out of Jules by his brother Marcel. His bakery business came to an end when Marcel retired without a having a successor. In the meantime Jules bought a plot of land across the street and started building an entirely new bakery. In 1953 the Biscuits Bofin factory was officially opened.

Willy

Jules' son Willy Van den Wijngaert took over the business. In 1992 the plant was once again expanded. Construction work was done during weekends in order not to interrupt the manufacturing of biscuits. Today Bofin mainly focusses on the making of biscuits for children - both natural and chocolate covered biscuits.

Marc

Marc Van den Wijngaert, Willy's son and right hand man, is now the executive director. Marc's daughter Jessica is married to Gunther Rams and he is our sales manager. As you can see, succession is secured, since 3 generations are working together for the same purpose: making the success story of Biscuits Bofin last.

Biscuits Bofin n.v.
Mechelbaan 690, 2580 Putte (Belgium)
tel: +32 (0)15 76 77 78
fax: +32 (0)15 75 44 94
e-mail: sales@biscuits-bofin.be