History

At the end of the 19th century, Peter Bouter started his own business under the name P. Bouter Graan- en Kaashandel. He delivered animal feed to the farmers and some paid him with cheese in return. After Peter Bouter had been trading cheese and animal feed for over thirty years, his sons, including Bart Bouter, took the helm.

In 1956 Bart Bouter thought the time had come for his son Peet to start work in the family business. Peet was a born businessman, saw opportunity everywhere, was lightning-fast at mental arithmetic and wanted to take the company forward. Not only did the cheese business grow at a rapid pace, but the clients did as well. They wanted pre-packaged pieces of cheese (vacuum-packed, cut pieces of cheese) and Peet responded accordingly.

In 1973 Peet Bouter decided to sell the animal feed segment of the business, since it had increasingly become a secondary activity for the company. In the meantime, the cheese business continued to grow, and Bouter Cheese expanded by taking over other operators.

In 1991 Albert Heijn selected Bouter as its supplier. The company began delivering international cheeses, followed by Dutch cheeses from 1st February 1992, making Bouter the cheese partner for Albert Heijn.

At the end of 1993, Bouter began pre-packaging international cheese in parallel. This was a historic moment as it gave Bouter the biggest boost in its history.

In 2001, the construction of  the new cheese plant in Culemborg began, further strengthening the relationship with Albert Heijn.

In 2010 the Bouter Group and Anker Cheese joined forces to create the A-ware Food Group. From Culemborg, 'Bouter’ continued managing the business with Albert Heijn.

In 2013 a new location opened in Woerden, specifically equipped for the production of tapas and bar snacks. This represented not only progress in the development of tapas and bar snacks, but also a further expansion of the partnership with Albert Heijn.

In 2015 the A-ware Food Group was awarded the Royal Warrant. For the A-ware Food Group this was literally the crowning achievement of years of hard work and dedication to getting A-ware Food Group into the position it now occupies – the culmination of the work done by the Bouter family and the Anker family, together with their employees, for more than 125 years.

In 2016 the tapas factory relocated from Woerden to Almere in order to continue to respond to the increasing demand for tapas.

In 2017 and 2018 the site in Culemborg was expanded and refurbished to enable continued expansion.

In 2019 the new production site Bouter Tapas was opened in Volendam to expand the company’s capacity and capabilities and to boost its innovative power.