During her Masters in Industrial Ecology at the University of Leiden and TU Delft, Florine Bekkering took a CAP Pâtisserie, a one-year official French vocational training program to become a pastry chef. “I did the pastry training there to learn French,” she says. “I was also really in a French class, then you do learn the language. It’s such a difference from the Netherlands.” Once back in the Netherlands, Florine decided to work at a French bakery in The Hague during her thesis period. The love for baking was a reality. “I helped develop vegan pastries in this bakery,” she says. It didn’t stop there, however. On an internship in Germany, Florine learned to bake traditional sourdough bread; back in the Netherlands, work was soon found at a real sourdough bakery. “There they baked with locally harvested grain, i.e. Dutch raw materials,” Florine explains. “This bread cannot be compared to bread from the supermarket. What I liked about that work is that you can take bread to a higher level. That totally fits with Industrial Ecology.”
Contributing more than just bread to society
Florine continues her story, “I wanted to contribute more than just bread to society and do something with my Industrial Ecology studies. Doing something on the side of data analysis seemed nice. At InstockMarket, I found a job that suited my needs. InstockMarket focused on combating food waste. With three restaurants in Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, where rescued food was transformed into creative dishes, it grew into a wholesale Food Rescue Center where waste is tackled on a large scale. With my knowledge, I helped this company achieve B-Corp status.
While Florine worked there, she started a modest bakery, which she runs on private time. “My big dream is to keep that bakery small,” she says with a wink. “I’m also on the board of Slow Food Youth Network, the network for young people who are committed to healthy, sustainable and fair food for all. Everything here is about the food transition. My friend owns a large, plant-based bakery. My own micro bakery is really a community service, on Saturdays friends and people from the neighborhood come to pick up their orders. I like that kind of connection creation.”
CSRD and ESG come to mind
When Florine heard about the CSRD and ESG, it had her full attention. She saw common ground with her education and interests. “When Salacia came up with the job posting ‘Data (Nerdy) Sustanainability Professional,’ I was sold on that title alone. I don’t want to work on making the world less bad, but on really making it better.” Salacia Solutions appealed to her greatly, and soon an appointment for an interview with a cup of coffee was set up. “It clicked right away. One interview later I was already hired. On December 1, 2024, I started in my new position.”
Florine notes that she finds it brilliant that Salacia also serves many clients from the food sector. Asked about her future plans, she replies, “I want to see how I can contribute in a tangible way to the further development of Salacia.” Whether she will also pamper colleagues with responsible creations from her bakery? “Definitely,” Florine says with a laugh.
