An entrepreneurial spirit has driven Van Nahmen for four generations. The company was founded as a Rhineland apple butter operation in 1917. People were going hungry and there was no end in sight to the First World War. It all began with a rural farm belonging to a young businessman called Wilhelm (I) van Nahmen, making apple butter. In a time of hunger and need, this young and evidently resourceful entrepreneur seized his opportunity. Rhineland apple and sugar beet butter was a sought-after product, being nutritious, high-energy and virtually made for the starving population. Thirteen years later, in the autumn of 1930, Wilhelm’s son Wilhelm (II) came onto the scene. Nineteen-year-old Wilhelm, like his father before him, displayed entrepreneurial vision and courage and steered the company in a new direction. He did not let the hard times of the Second World War (where fruit butter production once again played a key role) hold him back. He was the first to start making fruit juices, initially as a hired press house. This service is still in demand today.