since 2022 —
In 2017, two brothers started the City in a Box initiative, with a mission to put local entrepreneurs in the spotlight — and to introduce locals to all the good things their city has to offer.
Out of that grew the tastiest and most original Christmas hampers and corporate gifts from the country's biggest cities. Ever since, we've been gathering the finest artisan products from local soil in our boxes. In 2022, it was Haarlem's turn to delight the city with all its delicacies.
Besides supporting local entrepreneurship, we contribute to local employment: our boxes are packed at sheltered workshops in Haarlem. That way we also help create work for great people who find it just a little harder to land a job.
And nothing goes to waste: everything left over after the season is donated to the local food bank.
proud of the city, proud of our work —
Our local partners
Haarlem
In the Middle Ages Haarlem was a true brewing city: beer left along the river Spaarne in 112-litre barrels called 'jopen'. Jopen revived that tradition using a recipe from the city archives and brews today inside the listed Jopenkerk. Our boxes carry their Mooie Nel IPA, named after the lake just outside town.
Haarlem
Started in 2012 without any kettles of its own, and since 2016 in a real brewery on Bingerweg thanks to crowdfunding by its fans. Uiltje brews bold beers with cartoon owls on the can and names like 'Commissaris Rex' and 'Buurman wat doet u nu?'. The Christmas beer in our boxes is called 'F*ck de kerstboom' for a reason.
Haarlem
Baker of the Haarlemmer Halletjes®, a biscuit based on a 1693 recipe by Eymert van der Schee from the Oude Halletje on Korte Veerstraat. The recipe nearly disappeared and is now baked to the original again. The butter Christmas wreath biscuits in our hampers come from their ovens too.
Haarlem
The nicest form of local democracy we know: for every city gin, City Gin involves at least a hundred residents who together decide the icon, the ingredients, the colour and the story in local dialect. The flavour in this bottle was literally chosen by people from Haarlem. Small-batch, with its own Haarlem label, and in our boxes as a mini.
Haarlem
The nut shop on Generaal Cronjéstraat, the shopping street of Haarlem North with some 150 stores. Everything is roasted fresh on site, and that smell is exactly what the shop is known for. Their nut mix is in almost every box we put together.
Haarlem
The cheese shop on Barteljorisstraat, voted best speciality food shop for farmhouse cheese. Owner Wouter started behind the counter at fourteen and still cuts you a piece to taste first. For our boxes they supply the cheese bites that vanish first at every drinks table.
Haarlem
Leonie discovered real masala chai on a trip through India with her husband, then rebrewed it at home in Haarlem until it was right. Today she makes chai with her sister Kirsten: fresh ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and clove, vegan and with less sugar. No powder from a bag, but a concentrate you top up with warm milk.
Haarlem
In 2021 Paul Opdam took up slow juicing because his wife Yvonne had stopped drinking alcohol and wanted something that actually did something. The result: a ginger shot that is pure and sharp, with no added sugar or concentrate. The original shot is a fixture in our boxes.
Haarlem
A lunchroom in Schagchelstraat, one of Haarlem's Golden Streets, run by people with a disability who carry the place. Since reopening with their own bakery, everything comes straight out of that kitchen. Welcoming, proud and skilled, and you taste it in their bakes in our hampers.
Haarlem
A social enterprise of the Roads foundation where around 110 participants gain work experience in print and design, coming from mental health or addiction care. From brand identity and textile printing to window graphics, it is all made in house. Including our story cards and logo stickers.
Haarlem
Father Pieter and daughter Floor van der Steen felt nothing about peppermint had changed in twenty years and started 'mints on a mission': organically grown, vegan and free of artificial sweeteners. They come in a tin you keep. The smallest item in the box and surprisingly often the first one finished.
Do you think your product would be a perfect fit for our boxes?
Contact usA network of entrepreneurs
Since 2022 we've been providing local Christmas hampers and corporate gifts for proud companies. To be of as much value as possible, we've built a large network of local entrepreneurs in cities across the Netherlands.
Tempted?
