History
Goedegebuur was founded in 1950. After the closing of the municipal slaughterhouse in Rotterdam they moved to a slaughterhouse in Naaldwijk in 1977. Here the production of deboned and vacuum packed beef was increased. Since then the company has concentrated on slaughtering and processing of beef and veal increasingly for export. Through a consequent growth strategy, a plan erupted for a new, big scale beef slaughterhouse on the site of the Groothandelsmarkt in Rotterdam in the eighties. This new slaughterhouse was put into use in 1987 and had the largest number of beef killings (135.000) in Holland in 1994. However, with the decrease of the beef livestock in Holland by the growing milk production per cow, every day it became more difficult for the existing slaughterhouses to kill and to market beef. Therefore the reorganisation fund for slaughterhouses offered the opportunity of shutting down beef slaughterhouses.
Goedegebuur, already in its early stages, specialised in deboning and cutting of beef hindquarters, decided to close the slaughterhouse and to concentrate solely on this area by 1995. Bearing in mind to expand, in 1997 up to nearly 24 hours production was achieved. In the following years the company survived a number of crises in the beef business (BSE, Dioxin, Food and Mouth disease). By innovations and immediate reaction to ever changing market circumstances Goedegebuur Vlees Rotterdam has managed to maintain its position at the forefront of the European beef market.