Verkade

The company was first named "De Ruyter" for a mill in Zaandam which milled flour—the original "ruiter" ("horse rider") was on the company logo until 1994, when it was removed to make way for a newly designed logo, intended to give the company and its products a more contemporary look. The horseman is still found on Verkade rusk, which currently is made by the competitor, the Bolletje factory in Almelo, using the Verkade recipe. The company acquired the right to bear the "royal" mark in their name in 1950, and employs some 450 people in Zaandam. The last members of the Verkade family, Ericus's great-grandsons Erik and Arnold, left the company in 1992.

Commercial success came about also through marketing, starting in 1906, when the company began issuing picture cards with its products, which could be collected in albums. Co Verkade, a grandson of Ericus, was instrumental in this strategy, and the albums, most of them written by Jac. P. Thijsse were especially popular. The albums generated a kind of collection mania among the Dutch population before World War II: 27 albums were made, a total of 3.2 million copies; another source lists 28 albums and 362 million cards distributed over 30 years.