Like mushrooms popping up from the ground

In 2013, we started with an unusual idea in an unusual location: growing mushrooms on coffee grounds in a vacant subtropical swimming paradise. The subtropical swimming paradise is now called BlueCity [also an initiative of Mark and Siemen], and our mushroom farm has scaled up production elsewhere in the city. In recent years, numerous journalists and TV crews have visited our mushroom farm, making us the country's most famous mushroom growers. Both entrepreneurs and corporate refugees are attracted to this concept. To continue meeting the demand for local and high-quality coffee grounds processing, we are looking for entrepreneurs who want to start a farm in their own city.

It's always great when your company receives attention and wins awards. It boosts your ego and helps you find new relationships. The attention rotterzwam has received in recent years has been crucial to our growth. It laid the foundation for where we are today: the largest urban mushroom farm in Europe, which is virtually energy self-sufficient .

Sustainable ambitions
Companies looking to become more sustainable and find a useful destination for the hundreds of kilos of coffee grounds they throw away every month find their way to rotterzwam . We currently collect more than 6 tons of coffee grounds per month from 15 companies, and that number continues to grow. With our Coffee as a Service® concept, we're helping to close the coffee supply chain in the Randstad region.

Corporate refugees
Mark and Siemen are the founders of rotterzwam and both are corporate refugees. A corporate refugee is someone who has left their job at a large, established company. Trade in for a position at a scale-up or start your own business . We've noticed that many corporate refugees are drawn to our philosophy. Since 2014, we've trained over 42 entrepreneurs and organizations in our Mushroom Master Program. In this program, we teach participants how to start a mushroom farm in their own city.

Revenue model
The business case for a mushroom farm using coffee grounds has both an economic and an ecological profit model . This makes starting a business with this concept a perfect fit for our times. The greatest challenge of our time is to keep our economy and lifestyle within the limits of this one planet. To achieve this, we need business models that help create a circular society, business models that contribute to the greatest transition of recent decades.

Looking for entrepreneurs
The market demand for finding a useful destination for coffee grounds is growing and The Mushroom Master Program will continue to grow in the coming years . We're receiving increasing requests from all over the Netherlands for a solution. Rotterzwam believes in local and high-quality processing and is therefore looking for entrepreneurs who want to start a farm in their own city. In 2020, we're offering five Mushroom Master Programs. Will you start your new career as an urban farmer in 2020?