Bergbanket is a family business in Moerkapelle, a village in the so-called Green Heart of the province of South Holland. In 1926, our grandfather Piet van den Berg started a bakery here. Over the years, Bergbanket has grown into an industrial bakery with various traditional products: rusks, crackers and yeast dough biscuits. Out of all of those sweet biscuits, our cracknels are the most famous.
The so-called Moerkapelle cracknels (known in Dutch as ‘Krakelingen’) are the very basis of our products. Our grandfather, Piet van den Berg, started producing them in the late fifties. Every evening he heated his stone-floored oven to 250 degrees Celsius, so it was hot enough to bake his loaves at night. But during the day, the temperature of the oven continued to drop due to the different productions. In the afternoon, the oven was only at 180 degrees Celsius. This turned out to be the ideal temperature for baking biscuits. Piet then came up with the idea of using the yeast dough used in baking loaves of bread to bake cracknels instead.
We are trying to make our process more and more sustainable. Think of plastic reduction and the prevention of food waste.
The quality of our products always comes first.
Our rusks and crackers are a healthy alternative to bread. We use natural fibre-rich ingredients as much as possible.
And guess what? Local bakeries absolutely loved these cracknels. In no small part because baking cracknels takes a great deal of labour. Grandpa Piet employed workers to roll and fold cracknels in the afternoon, so he was able to supply them.
Grandfather Piet died in the late sixties at the age of 66. His sons, Herman and Piet Jr., who both worked in the bakery, decided to split the company. Herman continued the production of bread and pastries, which included the bakery. Piet Jr. decided to specialise in cracknels. A machine could supply the sugar-coated ribbons of dough, but the cracknels were still folded by hand. The cracknels were no longer just sold to bakeries in the area, but also to wholesalers in South Holland and sometimes even beyond.
The demand for the cracknels became so great that Peter, son of Piet Jr., developed a machine in 1985 that automated the rolling, sugar coating of the dough and subsequently the folding as well. During this process, it was imperative that nothing about the now famous quality of the cracknels was sacrificed.
Even now, we still use the cracknel recipe as it was used by grandfather Piet, with its unique butter flavour and using real yeast. We are the only bakery that uses yeast in biscuits. We also use our yeast dough to bake our caramel and cinnamon biscuits.
Family business with a vision for the future
As the third generation in our family business, we attach great importance to continuity and a long-term vision. We constantly ask ourselves: how can we prepare the next generation for a future at Bergbanket? And how can we make our production processes as sustainable and responsible as possible?
We continue to produce our traditional biscuits according to trusted yeast dough recipes. At the same time, our rusks and crackers respond to the growing demand for healthy bread substitutes. We minimise the use of sugar and salt and consciously choose natural ingredients such as sesame seeds, linseed, and pumpkin seeds.
In addition, we actively follow the latest food trends, including plant-based (vegan), organic, vegetable-based and low-calorie recipes. In this way, we combine craftsmanship with innovation and continue to build a sustainable future.
+31 (0)79 593 13 26
info@bergbanket.nl
Industriestraat 5
2751 GT Moerkapelle
The Netherlands