Rotterdam

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BOONA

How we make it

About

Request a sample

For farmers

For brands

BOONA

How we make it

About

Request a sample

Processing belongs near where the food is grown.

Why this exists

Farms that grow well grow variously. A rotation with beans in it feeds the soil, breaks disease cycles and gives you six or eight things to sell instead of one, in quantities no processing line is set up for. The agronomy improves and the invoice doesn’t.

Almost every piece of food manufacturing in Europe is built the other way, around one crop and a run long enough to justify the changeover. That’s an efficient answer to a question farms have stopped asking.

So we built the other kind of line. Small enough that a single field is a viable run, equipped for grain and bean flour, and set up to change blend between runs rather than once a year.

Line illustration of a food system: grazing animals and trees at the base, a processing line in the middle, and grain, pasta and bread at the top.

The Rotterdam station, with an extruder beside stacked wooden drying racks and white crates.

Maasboulevard 100, Rotterdam. A mixer, an extruder with bronze dies, and a drying room that runs for 24 to 36 hours at low temperature, with flour from a milling partner.

That’s the whole of it, and it’s the point. Nothing about the equipment is unusual. What’s unusual is the scale it’s set at and the willingness to change what goes into it.

Visits are by appointment, so call ahead.

What’s come off it

BOONA, a bean and grain pasta for hospital and care kitchens, now in service at a number of Zuid-Holland hospitals and care facilities at around 100 kg a week, through Het Nieuwe Nassen, TotaalVERS and St. Franciscus.

A lupin pasta for Lekker Lupine. A high protein pasta for De Biesterhof, made from their own wheat, spelt and fava beans, for hospital catering and the Radboud Nijmegen canteen. And a pastina soup mix of our own, almost ready for market.

Sean Patrick, founder of Gabanna, smiling with arms folded beside a drying tray of green bean pasta and a stack of wooden drying racks.

Why we stay this size

The line is sized to change between runs. That isn’t a stage we’re growing out of, it’s the whole capability. Scale it up and it needs one crop and a long run, and then we’re no use to the people we built it for.

Being this size is what lets a single field be a viable production run, a blend follow what was actually harvested, and a shape exist that no standard die cuts. It’s why we can work to a season rather than a forecast.

It also means that when you call, you get the person who runs the line. The answer about whether your crop will work comes from someone who’ll be standing next to the extruder when it does.

Sean Patrick, Founder and Product Lead.

I’m a food processing and industrialisation specialist. I build the manufacturing route for crops and ingredients that don’t yet have one.

Before Gabanna, I spent seven years in international development working on agricultural recovery and rural livelihoods in West Africa. I completed a master’s in Agrarian, Food and Environmental Systems at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and an advanced master’s at Radboud University Nijmegen.

What we hold ourselves to

We say what we can’t do before you’ve spent time on it. Dry goods only, no distribution, and an honest answer in the first call if the crop won’t work.

We tell you where our certifications actually stand. FSSC 22000 is in progress and we’d rather you knew that now.

We don’t make products we wouldn’t put in front of our own families.

Where this goes

Gabanna is the first Maker Station in Europe. Green Banana Food B.V. is building more of them, close to other harvests in other places, on the same principle that processing belongs near where food is grown rather than three countries away.

We’re working towards the next one in Uganda, bringing localised processing to African markets.

Every harvest teaches us something

Processing variable harvests is what we do, and projects are where that know-how grows. Hundreds of production runs with heritage grains, pulses and seasonal crops have taught us how a harvest behaves on the line, and what to adjust when protein, moisture or texture shifts between batches. That’s what we bring to a project. Trials, research and experiments take it further. They test what we know against new crops and new questions, and they connect us with the farmers, millers, researchers and kitchens working on the same chain. The more we learn together, the better we get at turning a changing harvest into a product people can rely on.

We work in project partnerships with farmers, researchers, funders and food companies, and we’re open to more. In-depth work on biodiversity, localised processing, smart processing technology and extrusion is where we add most. Below are the kinds of projects we work on. New collaborations start with a conversation.

A Gabanna Heritage Pasta box of Torretta, Sprouted Heirlooms, with vintage crop illustrations on its side.

ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION

Big Food Redesign Challenge

The Foundation challenged food companies to redesign products so they help nature recover. We rebuilt our pasta around ancient grains from regenerative farmers near our station: Emmer, Serenite spelt, Heliaro and Quintus wheat. Each blend went through lab analysis, texture trials and consumer tastings before we agreed volumes with farmers and millers. The range earned the Nature in mind mark and went on sale at Fortnum & Mason. Alongside it we developed Banna, a cold-extruded cereal of sorghum, buckwheat, amaranth and oats.

With the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Fortnum & Mason and regenerative grain farmers

Two bowls of sorghum breakfast cereal, brown cacao rings on the left and pale green stars on the right.

RVO · CIRCULAR CHAIN PROJECTS

Sorghum from field to breakfast bowl

Dutch farmers grow sorghum for biobased building materials, and the grain is left over with nowhere to go. It’s naturally gluten-free and high in protein and fibre, so we turned it into breakfast cereal. Springtail organised supply from the farms, we developed the product, and Rechtstreex tested it with their customers. Our part covered recipes, small test batches, tasting panels, shelf-life and nutrition analysis, and a pilot production setup.

With Springtail and Rechtstreex, supported by process lead Bas Hillerström

A sign reading Spelt in a field of ripe spelt and wild flowers.

EIP ZUID-HOLLAND

Graanlab

Grain has to pay if farmers are going to keep it in the rotation. In Graanlab a farmer, a miller, a caterer and a project lead work with us on the whole chain, from the field to catering kitchens. We’re the food maker. Risk and return are shared, and we’re testing co-ownership so the grower stands stronger. The European Commission visited the project in July 2026.

With Springtail, Hof van Heden, Smaak van de Waard and Maasdijk Molens

BUIJTENLAND VAN RHOON

GraanCollectief

Farmers, bakers and processors in the Buijtenland van Rhoon are building a short grain chain together. We make pasta for Boerderij De Buytenhof from grain off their own fields, and the farm sells it as its own product. Inside the collective we also developed a protein and fibre-rich pasta for hospitals and care facilities. That pasta is now BOONA.

With Boerderij De Buytenhof and Het Nieuwe Nassen

Come and see it.

We host group visits and pasta workshops in our events space, and we’re glad to hear from volunteers and food enthusiasts. Call ahead to arrange a visit, or invite us to your food and biodiversity event.

Start a conversation

A Maker Station in Rotterdam, making pasta from regenerative harvests.

Work with us

For farmers

For brands

BOONA

How we make it

Request a sample

Contact

Maasboulevard 100
3063 NS Rotterdam
The Netherlands

+31 (0)6 4234 0007

craft@gabannafoodworks.com

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