Company canteen
This coffee cup bears the signature of Alfred (Freddy) Heineken himself. From the time Freddy joined the family business in 1942 until his retirement in 1989, he left his mark on the company's style. He proposed advertising designs, such as the smiling ‘e’ on labels and the Heineken green, and exerted influence over the internal house style.
White Mosa feldspar porcelain, bearing the name 'Heineken' in Freddy's own handwriting, was used in the company restaurants at Heineken Den Bosch and Zoeterwoude for many years from the 1980s on. The clatter of cups, plates and soup bowls no doubt still rings in the ears of many an employee. The canteen ladies (always ladies!), who brought morning coffee and afternoon tea to people at their desks, were a familiar sight in the offices. The porcelain crockery also included smarter items, such as covered dishes and gravy boats, but these were reserved for the most senior personnel.
Lunch in the café
Over the course of 150 years, staff canteens at the breweries developed from austere dining rooms to professional company restaurants. The style varied considerably from one branch to another. For example, the office staff at Heineken Rotterdam used to go to the adjacent café Hollandia for lunch, where anniversaries and other celebrations were also held. When the brewery opened in Den Bosch in 1958, staff took lunch in a temporary canteen. This was a small, makeshift building with a 'comfortably furnished room in pastel colours.' By contrast, the office staff at the distinguished Amstel brewery on Mauritskade in Amsterdam had a palatial dining room at their disposal.
No Douwe Egberts
Heineken's canteens didn't only serve coffee and tea in the old days. A former Heineken Amsterdam employee remembers it well: 'In those days, we didn't have an alcohol ban or anything like that. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw people drinking beer at 10:30 in the morning, instead of coffee. But that was common back then. The older people all did it.' When he ordered a cup of coffee for himself, he was told: 'You're not drinking coffee, are you crazy? This isn't Douwe Egberts.' Nowadays, drinking alcohol during working hours at Heineken is absolutely forbidden – Enjoy Heineken responsibly.
24/7
Starting in 1975, Heineken Rotterdam, the Amstel brewery (acquired by Heineken in 1968) and Heineken Amsterdam moved successively to the new brewery at Zoeterwoude. The staff canteens merged into one big company restaurant with a completely new set of crockery. Since the recent ban on disposable cups, this type of crockery, bearing the modern Heineken logo, has made a comeback by the drinks machines and in the canteens. And you have to fetch your own now – the days of the tea lady's trolley coming to your desk are long gone.