Our family roots run deep

In 1852, in the small Dutch village of Aalst, Koster Keunen established its first factory. We have been a family owned company ever since, always staying true to our founding principles of quality, service and innovation. This philosophy brought us great results early on and has helped the company grow and develop to the highly successful organization we are today.

Koster Keunen Holland was founded as a family business in 1852, in Aalst (near Eindhoven), after the wedding of Johanna Keunen and Bernhard Koster.

Prime user of refined beeswax was the candle industry. Back in those days, bleaching beeswax was a seasonal task; the only available method was exposing beeswax to sunlight in large open fields.

While at first beeswax was mainly used for candles, at the start of the 20thcentury pharmaceuticals, food and especially cosmetics became important markets for beeswax. In 1930 the company moved to the USA. Koster Keunen, LLC was founded in Sayville, N.Y. to supply the American market and a second home base for the company was established.

In 1960 Frits Koster (3rd generation) went back to Holland with two of his sons (Louis & Fred) to re-establish a new Dutch factory site in Geldrop, as before near Eindhoven. The demand for products increases substantially and by the end of the 60’s Koster Keunen had the status of biggest supplier of bleached and refined beeswax in Europe. The expansion of the sales market brought the need for additional production space with it. In 1973 the company therefore moved to a new and modern factory site in Bladel. For the same reasons the U.S.A based company moved from Sayville, N.Y. to Watertown, CT in 1994. From these two locations Koster Keunen operates at present time.