What doesn’t exist must be created! That’s how Stephanie Groot-Hecker started Bureau Fris 16 years ago. Very quickly she hired her first employee and future co-owner: Augusta Zweekhorst. In this blog, Stephanie and Augusta look back on 16 years of Fris.

The plunge

Stephanie: ‘I started my career at a renowned research agency. There I saw that well-equipped spaces for market research were in high demand. I couldn’t find one single flexible selection agency that thinks along with their customers. In 2005, I took the plunge and went to the Chamber of Commerce. Bureau Fris was born: the full-service facilitating partner in market research. Within the first year, I hired my first employee: Augusta. We were such a good match that less than three years later, Augusta became co-owner of Bureau Fris. I am primarily responsible for marketing and sales, Augusta mostly takes care of finance and HR.’

Through the cool box

‘It has been an amazing journey,’ Augusta says. ‘We’ve had a lot of laughs here at Bureau Fris. What I remember most are the boat trips. When Fris existed for five years, we sailed on the Loosdrechtse Plassen in a huge boat. I remember still being awake at five o’clock in the morning the next day. That was my first time ever! And when I celebrated my 10-year anniversary at Fris, we sailed through the Amsterdam canals in a big sloop. I will never forget the moment Steph fell through the cool box! We laughed so hard and made so much noise that we were pulled over. The skipper even had to take an alcohol breath test, but of course he was totally sober. Our Sinterklaas dice nights were also legendary. Until the coronavirus pandemic hit, we had 14 of them. On this night, everybody brings presents which go in a big pile. We always know exactly which presents are Stephanie’s: it’s always old junk, even a soup recipe book with soup stains on the pages. Really, Steph was ahead of her time when it comes to recycling.’

A new vibe

‘Our Christmas parties are always a lot of fun, too,’ Stephanie laughs. ‘We have dinner with the entire team and their families. Those moments are indeed true highlights. The past 15 months have been difficult, but we’ve also accomplished many wonderful things. We’ve launched Fris 2.0. We are working on some interesting things, such as facilitating research via Whatsapp. Face-to-face will always remain, but online is here to stay as well.

A fresh start

‘This isn’t the first crisis that we’ve managed to overcome,’ Augusta says. There was the credit crisis, then the Euro crisis and now it’s the pandemic. But I am extremely proud of how we got out of it and how we all look to the future with new energy. We had to say goodbye to several people during the pandemic, but luckily we can fill a few positions again. We’re ready to make a fresh start. Here’s to the next 16 years!’

Proud

‘I’m extremely proud of how many customers we’ve had the privilege to work for during these past 16 years,’ Stephanie concludes. ‘They keep coming back to us thanks to our personal approach and the great contact with our account managers, who take care of everything from A to Z. Facilitating good market research is teamwork!’

Would you like to know more?

Would you like to know the exact ins-and-outs of such market research, online or face-to-face? Feel free to contact Stephanie Groot without any obligations. We’d love to tell you all about it.