Max from Oma's Soep: soup as a remedy for loneliness

In the spring of 2017, Max Kranendijk founded Oma's Soep together with his fellow student, Robert Croese. The goal? To combat both loneliness among the elderly and food waste. We were curious to see how he was doing over a year later!

Tell us something nice about yourself that has nothing to do with Granny Soup!

"Something fun? So I have to tell a story out of the blue? "I'm Max and I'm from The Hague...." No, just kidding. Apart from this whole thing, I really like playing football, which I do 3 - 4 times a week! And for the rest I like to go crazy with friends."

Explain what Oma’s Soep is.

"With Oma's Soep, we cook four days a week in a different part of town, together with grandpas and grandmothers. But also with young people, except that they have exams this week. Normally we sit here with 4 - 5 students. We make soup together, partly from vegetables left over from Marqt and the rest is bought in. But it is especially nice for the elderly to cut up, have a chat with each other and then eat a free soup."

"The most important thing is that it is sociable. For some elderly people, it can also be that you combat loneliness. That's not the case with all elderly people but it's still pretty much the goal. It varies. Sometimes we sit with elderly people who are suffering from dementia and sometimes with elderly people who still live at home."

What is your favourite soup?

My grandmother's broth soup!

The soups are also sold. So actually Grandma's Soup is also your business?

"Yes, that's right! I founded it together with Robert Croese, a buddy from way back. In the meantime, he is busy training as a neurologist. But I really liked making this big because I think that if you sell all this well in restaurants and supermarkets, you can really become a self-sufficient company. Right now we are still partly dependent on subsidies."

Do you remember where you were when you got the idea for Grandma's Soup?

"I was in the pub with Robert. We had both nearly finished our studies and had to start thinking about what we would do. He regularly saw elderly people during his studies so we thought we could do something for them."

"Then I immediately thought of my grandmother who can make soup super well! Unfortunately, she's pretty lonely now because her children and grandchildren all live in the suburbs and she lives in Maastricht. So then we thought, why not bring these three elements together? That worked out well! First once a week and then more often, on a structural basis.

What would you be doing now if you hadn't started Oma's Soep?

"I studied economics at the UvA, so... no idea really! In any case, I was not making soup. (laughs) But I have always wanted to do sustainable business. Something social, with impact. Meanwhile, I also really liked the commercial element. At first, I thought of big companies, but during my internships I discovered that I didn't like that. Everything is so slow.

What are the three most important lessons you have learned on this adventure?

• "Don't think too much, just do it.
• Everything takes a bit longer than you think.
• Above all, have fun."

With whom would you still like to have a soup?

"With the Minister of Health. It is of course our dream to make Oma's Soep possible throughout the Netherlands and if he could help us with that, instead of 100 elderly people a week we could perhaps help 10,000 elderly people a week, throughout the country."

So the main goal remains...?

"To let as many elderly people as possible have a nice day out. To keep some elderly people from loneliness, but also to offer many others some distraction."

One last question: vermicelli or balls?

"Vermicelli!"

https://youtu.be/OPCXH3aRIBw

Video by NPO on 3

About Oma's Soep

Oma's Soep brings (lonely) elderly people together by letting them make and eat soup together with young people. In this way, the elderly meet new people, can learn from each other and share a common passion: making delicious soup. Oma's Soep is active in different parts of Amsterdam, where the elderly make soup to eat together and the elderly make extra soups together with us to sell to the Amsterdam business community. All vegetables are supplied by greengrocers and organic supermarkets, who donate their unsold produce to this social initiative.