Jacco Schep didn’t grow up dreaming of running a bakery. He grew up on the production line, mostly to keep him out of trouble.
“I didn’t actually know that I wanted it at first,” Jacco admitted, reflecting on taking over Schep’s Bakeries as part of the family’s second generation. “I mean, I grew up doing this — to the point where, when I was really young, I was helping on the line. What I considered helping, my parents was just keeping me busy, to keep me out of trouble.”
That early exposure eventually turned into genuine pride. Founded by Jacco’s father, Arie Schep, in 1984 — with production beginning in 1985 after starting out by importing and selling stroopwafels made in Europe — the business has grown into an international operation built around a single, singular product. “We do one thing, stroopwafels, and we like to think we do it well,” Jacco said.
That singular focus has scaled dramatically. Schep’s has gone from producing a few thousand waffles an hour to more than 100,000 an hour today, with total lifetime production exceeding a billion cookies. Under the Double Dutch brand, the bakery now exports well beyond Canada and the U.S. — into South Korea, Japan, Europe, and South America — with a product lineup that’s expanded to include stroopwafel ice cream sandwiches and gluten-free, allergy-sensitive options.
For Jacco, the appeal was never just the product — it was the challenge of building something. “What I really enjoy is making a good product that people can enjoy,” he said, “but I love the challenge of running the business, growing the business.”
Ask him what he’s proudest of, though, and the answer isn’t the export numbers or the equipment. It’s the culture. “Our employees, the team that we’re building — without them, it doesn’t matter what kind of a product we have. There’s not gonna be any growth,” Jacco said. “We believe that employees are not a number. We run our business with morals and integrity.” Attitude, he added, is one of the qualities they value most in the people who join the team.
Running a growing, generational business has taught Jacco a lesson he says he learned long ago but still returns to: he’s not always right. “You can know what you’re doing, and it can seem right, and everything can align — but it’s not always right,” he said. What matters more, he’s found, is what comes next. “How do you continue? How do you pivot from that, how do you learn from that?”
That same grounded outlook shapes the advice he’d offer a new entrepreneur. “Believe in what you do,” Jacco said — whether that’s a product, a service, or food. Just as important: resist the urge to move too fast. “Nothing comes without hard work,” he said. “Be smart about it, and do business within your means. It’ll come on its own.”
Schep’s is now firmly a multi-generational story. Jacco runs the business alongside his brothers Jonathan and Peter, and the third generation is already working in the company with plans to eventually take over. “We’re generational,” Jacco said, “and we hope to keep growing for multiple generations.” New flavours, new product additions, and continued export growth remain constant priorities — alongside a retail outlet planned soon for the Tillsonburg facility — but the underlying philosophy hasn’t changed. “In the end, it’s all about quality. If the product is good, people keep eating it, and word of mouth, it’ll keep growing.”
Rural Oxford is where that whole story began, and where Jacco still calls home. “I know nothing different than Rural Oxford,” he said, having moved to the area as a young boy and grown the business here ever since. The region’s work ethic, he says, has been a genuine asset. “The support, for being able to continue to grow over the years, has been really good.”
Eventually, though, Schep’s simply outgrew what Norwich could support — both in physical space and in local workforce. “We just came to a point where maybe we grew too big for Rural Oxford, in the Norwich area,” Jacco said. Rather than leaving the region altogether, the family looked to nearby Tillsonburg, which offered the infrastructure, services, and land needed to keep expanding without pulling the business out of Oxford County entirely. The Norwich facility — roughly 85,000 square feet — remains fully staffed and running at capacity, while the new 200,000-square-foot Tillsonburg facility, backed by a workforce of over 200 employees combined, gives the company room to keep pace with rising demand. “Instead of moving out of one area, we’re now in two areas in Rural Oxford,” Jacco said, “trying to complement and support the community.”
That commitment to staying rooted runs deep. Despite opportunities to relocate or expand elsewhere, Jacco is clear about where the business belongs. “It’s not all about money. It’s the community, it’s the family, the generational business,” he said. “If we would pick up and leave, then we’re basically saying to the whole family, you’ve gotta leave.” With well over 200 employees depending on the business, he sees that responsibility as a different kind of stewardship — one that outweighs the appeal of chasing growth elsewhere. Future production may eventually expand into new countries or continents, but Oxford County will remain the company’s base. “This is our footprint. This is our home.”
Looking back, Jacco says he wouldn’t have done it any differently. “If given a choice to pick where you would set up a business like ours, I think we would do the same thing all over again,” he said. “We know the people, we’re part of the community. It’s an amazing place to grow.”
Schep’s Bakeries Ltd. — Double Dutch
Jacco, Jonathan & Peter Schep
Norwich Township & Town of Tillsonburg
Established 1984
schepsbakeries.com
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