This website is only for B2B purposes, not for consumers. 

Winclove was founded in 1991 by Bram van Leeuwen and Pieter Pekelharing.

Spencer Food
It all started around 20 years ago when Bram van Leeuwen and Pieter Pekelharing were working at Spencer Food Industrial. During their activities at Spencer Food, a marketing organisation for raw materials for the feed industry, Bram van Leeuwen and Pieter Pekelharing were first faced with the concept of probiotics. With both of them having a technological background, they were immediately interested in this concept. Their background furthermore enabled them to understand the long term potential of investing in probiotics. In those days, the technology, the understanding of the mode of action of probiotics and the market all had to be build from scratch. Fascinated by the long term potential and the possibilities in both human and animal health, they started carefully by investing probiotics, making use of the profits of Spencer Food as a financial basis. Since they wanted to be fully independent, they decided to use no external financing or bank loans, although the future was very unsure.

Despite the unsure future, the first probiotic powder successfully delivered in 1988 to specialised health clinics in the UK. Spencer was managing the sales of this powder, since it was decided to invest all the money and energy of Winclove in research on probiotics. Winclove started with, and still has, a strict business to business approach. To suit customers and to enable them to invest in their own products, Winclove developed a strategy to produce customer specific formulations. This has led to more than 50 different formulations using in more than 25 different bacterial strains.

Multispecies innovation
The product concept of multispecies, which is the basis of Winclove probiotic products, was surely not common in the 1980s. Many companies wanted a kind of a Pharma image and therefore promoted single strain products. Winclove choose for a multistrain concept and started investing, already in those days, in the know how of symbiotic effects between strains.  The total 30 years experience of both founders in food technology, made it possible to develop a carrier ensuring excellent shelf life properties. Nowadays, most companies have tackled this problem. Ten years ago, however, many probiotic products needed refrigeration to ensure shelf life. 

The work on symbiotic effects between the different bacteria and the effect of the carrier on biological activity, made it possible to formulate products with a superior effect and without the necessity for extremely high concentrations. The results in the market place proved that these choices and investments were right; since the year 2000 Winclove has been growing all years between 20 and 40% per annum, resulting in a total production of over 100.000 kilograms in 2008. Today, Winclove supplies to 60 customers in 30 countries. Different countries all over the world. Most of our customers use these products in a medical endorsed setting.

The future
In 1999 Winclove started performing cooperation’s with several universities and academic hospitals all over Europe.  This has led to a constant flow of publications and 6 products which are supported by clinical evidence.  This is the way we continue: scientifically proven, medical endorsed, multispecies, customer specific products, sold in a B to B market.

More curious about our company? Check out our corporate video

 This website is only for B2B purposes, not for consumers.