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It is the year that founder Hans Strothoff bade farewell and the year that Jeroen Geldhof became general manager MHK Belgium.
Text Tom Rampelbergh Image MHK
With Hans Strothoff, MHK loses a man who unmistakably left his mark on the kitchen industry, in Germany but also internationally. In 1980, Strothoff was only 30 at the time, he founded the MHK Verbundgruppe, today's MHK Group AG. He remains Chairman of the Board of Directors until his death on August 11, 2020.
Hans Strothoff.
Five years before the founding of the MHK Verbundgruppe, Strothoff established his own kitchen studio. The beginning of a long career in the kitchen sector. Strothoff was an entrepreneur pur sang who set to work in a highly committed manner and with a wealth of ideas slowly but surely developed the MHK Group into one of the leading European full-service cooperation organizations. Medium-sized and craft enterprises in numerous sectors, not just the kitchen industry, benefited from this cooperation. The figures look impressive. In 2019, the group's more than 3,200 partners realized sales of 6.642 billion euros. These partners are active in the kitchen and living sector but also in sanitary/heating/air conditioning and construction/renovation. Successful marketing concepts such as the successful franchise formula REDDY Kitchens sprang from Strothoff's brain. Service companies, including software provider CARAT, also joined the group.
Jeroen Geldhof, head of MHK Belgium since April this year.
Whoever says MHK immediately says Dreieich. It is here that Strothoff begins his MHK story and where the group's headquarters are still located. Strothoff, MHK and Dreieich are closely linked, clearly underlined in 2014 when Strothoff founded the association "Zukunft Dreieich - Integration und Nachhaltigkeit," translated as "Dreieich in the future - integration and sustainability. The goal of the association is clear: to improve the quality of living and life in the city of Dreieich. During the last months of his life, Strothoff meticulously prepared the future of MHK. The company was transformed into a foundation, financially and legally a structure was prepared so that the future is guaranteed, the social purpose of the foundation was clearly defined, and a Board of Directors was put together with an eye to the future and respect for the past and with Mr. Heilos as chairman. The future is assured.
A new REDDY branch in Geel, opened during the lockdown.
Domestically, in full lockdown early this year, Jeroen Geldhof took the helm of MHK Belgium. "I was contacted by the Board of Directors and after a few conversations, the match was obvious," Geldhof said. "I used to work at Novy and thus bring the necessary experience, more than 11 years to be exact, to MHK. Both MHK and I are steeped in delivering quality. Doing something halfway is not in our vocabulary. I would like to commit to developing a hybrid model where consumers are informed online about all the possibilities in terms of kitchen planning and then take a better prepared and informed step to a kitchen retailer's showroom. The physical showroom remains central to the independent kitchen retailer. Here the potential customer experiences, feels, sees and touches the possible materials. Here the independent kitchen dealer speaks passionately about his product and the final decision is made."
