3 - Endorsed
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Het Hooihuis has built consistent practice across three areas of responsible cooking.
Sourcing is the clearest of these. Bread comes from a bakery in the same town, cheese is chosen in person at a regional cheese specialist, spring asparagus comes from a named grower, and shellfish arrives through a fishmonger in Yerseke, with the chef visiting her suppliers rather than ordering blind. That sourcing feeds a kitchen that genuinely turns with the calendar, working through asparagus in spring, shellfish days in late winter and mussels across the summer, with the menu rewritten several times a year.
The third area is how the restaurant treats the people who work there. All hours worked are paid, around forty of the hundred or so staff hold permanent contracts, schedules flex around parents and colleagues with health limitations, and new arrivals go through a structured six-week induction. The training programme has been recognised nationally within the hospitality sector.
The impact dimensions
Sustainable animal products
Sourdough from Bakkerij van de Bemd in Roosendaal, cheese selected in person at the Kaasatelier, asparagus from Boer Vos, and shellfish through fishmonger G&B in Yerseke, with the chef visiting suppliers regularly.
Sourdough comes from Bakkerij van de Bemd in Roosendaal, developed jointly with the chef with aligned work processes between bakery and kitchen. Cheese is selected in person at the Kaasatelier, with Joost uit Gastel named on the menu. Spring asparagus arrives from Boer Vos. Shellfish and fish come through fishmonger G&B in Yerseke, where the chef visits and has established direct relationships.
Wine comes from two fixed regional suppliers, Boonstoppel and Residence, and ice cream from IJsboerderij de Gerdahoeve. The restaurant states its guiding philosophy as 'we believe in the power of proximity'. The menu also features non-regional sourcing, including Uruguayan beef, Argentinian prawns and Norwegian cod.
Menu revolves around seasonal availability with documented quarterly changes: Fruits de Mer in March, Boer Vos asparagus in spring, spring menu launch in April, summer mussels, and seasonally reworked desserts.
The restaurant states that the menu 'moves with the seasons' and follows seasonal availability and guest preferences. The dinner menu carries explicit seasonal language: 'seasonal vegetables', 'tomatoes in season'. The chef frames this philosophy as 'out of respect for the products growing at that moment'.
The news archive documents distinct seasonal rotation throughout the year: Fruits de Mer days in March, arrival of Boer Vos asparagus in spring, a new spring menu launched on 17 April, a seasonally reworked dessert range from the in-house patisserie, and mussels through the summer. This demonstrates quarterly to seasonal menu change tied to ingredient availability.
Fishmonger G&B in Yerseke supplies regional shellfish and fish, specified on the menu by species and region. No animal-welfare certification is named for any product.
Shellfish and white fish come through fishmonger G&B in Yerseke, with the chef visiting to maintain quality standards. The menu specifies these products by region and species: Zeeland mussels and cockles, North Sea sole and crab, Dutch shrimp.
Meat sourcing includes Uruguayan beef and Argentinian prawns, both grain-fed. No animal-welfare certification such as MSC, ASC or Beter Leven is published for any product, and no named butcher or farm is identified for the meat.
All hours worked are paid; about 40 of 100 staff hold permanent contracts; new arrivals complete a structured six-week induction. The kitchen won SVH Beste Leerbedrijf Horeca (Best Training Company) in 2017-2018 and offers Saturday workshops in wine and patisserie.
Fair employment is the core commitment. Owner Koen Bakker states 'I pay out all hours worked', a direct pledge against wage and hour theft common in hospitality. The restaurant employs roughly 100 staff, of whom about 40 hold permanent contracts. Scheduling is flexible for parents and colleagues with health limitations. The restaurant deliberately hires people at distance from mainstream employment, including two partially disabled team members on four-hour days and an employee of eight years accommodated under restrictions. All new staff go through a structured 12-step induction spanning six weeks, with HR practice formalised through a dedicated HR manager and Professional Person Assessment interviews.
Training and industry leadership form the second area. The restaurant won the national SVH Beste Leerbedrijf Horeca (Best Training Company in Hospitality) award for 2017-2018, recognised for a decade of investing in people. Saturday-morning workshops in wine and patisserie are offered, alongside training budgets and inspiration trips. Owner Koen Bakker is the first SVH Master Hospitality Entrepreneur in the Netherlands and chairs the Roosendaal branch of Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, working to raise hospitality standards across the local industry.
Vegetables dominate the starters section with treated-as-dishes preparations like cauliflower steak and stuffed courgette flower. One vegetarian main is offered; the chef has expanded the plant-based range over time.
The menu reserves dedicated space for vegetables in the starters section, where they are treated as composed dishes in their own right. Current offerings include cauliflower steak, roasted pointed cabbage, stuffed courgette flower and salad. In the mains, a single vegetarian option is offered: tortellini filled with fresh peas.
The vegetarian and vegan share of the overall menu remains limited: only one of roughly twelve mains is vegetarian, and no dishes are explicitly labelled vegan. The chef is noted as having expanded the plant-based range over time.
Sourcing signals
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Direct named-farm sourcing
Multiple named suppliers across categories: Bakkerij van de Bemd (sourdough), Boer Vos (asparagus), Kaasatelier (cheese), G&B (fishmonger), IJsboerderij de Gerdahoeve (ice cream), Boonstoppel and Residence (wine). The chef describes visiting suppliers in person.
An in-house patisserie department, led by Beau and Gina, reworks the dessert range seasonally. Hand-made tortellini and house-made lemon butter are named on the menu.
