Interview: Transition Manager Anneleid Linthorst

On a regular basis, we interview our colleagues, so you’ll get a nice behind-the-scenes of our team. This time it’s Anneleid who’s telling more about herself.

Anneleid Linthorst, Transition Manager at Join Program, spent much of her childhood in the prep kitchens of her parents’ catering company. From an early age, she helped out in the family business working the front of the house as a server, or behind the scenes in the kitchen. She loved it until she started her adolescence.

Years after making the promise to herself never to go back, she is finding herself in a thriving career in the same industry she vowed to stay away from.

“It’s not like I didn’t try hard to avoid the food industry, because I did”, laughs Anneleid. “I got a degree in Management, Economics, and Law (MER) and I applied for jobs in the corporate world.” At her third and final interview for a position at a recruitment agency in Amsterdam, the CEO showed genuine surprise for her even wanting the job: “He practically laughed at the possibility of me working for him and told me I was looking for the right job in the wrong places”, remembers Anneleid. “I left his office without a job, but with an opportunity to meet his wife, who worked at the Amsterdam Arena. Less than a week later I started as a Crowd Services Coordinator at the stadium, and I ended up staying for 8 years.”

In her last year at the Amsterdam Arena, Anneleid became the Hospitality Concept Coordinator for a new catering concept/food experience in the brand-new main building of the stadium. She loved working with suppliers, chefs, and designers, and she enjoyed the thrill of building something from nothing. “I was reintroduced to my love for the hospitality industry and I realized how familiar I already was with the nuts and bolts of food and catering.” When the food concept for the Arena wrapped up, Anneleid found a new job opportunity at enbiun (now Powerplant) where she quickly became involved in a new catering concept. “I loved every aspect of it. From creating and implementing food menus to working with our clients on the work floor and figuring out their logistic needs.” In this new catering concept, she thrived in motivating and inspiring people to really change and think outside the box.

This early catering guiding concept was the caterpillar that eventually turned into the butterfly that is Program. “It is incredible for me to look back at where we started and compare it to where we are today; the technology, the clients, our partnership with Vermaat, our pledge to serve healthy and sustainable food with very little waste. It is a long list of accomplishments that didn’t happen overnight or without hurdles but on which I am very proud.”

Anneleid is known for her critical point of view, she always demands outstanding performance in every aspect of the Join Program proposition, with hard work and teamwork.

“For me, it’s always about the people. I want to offer the people around me a good time. That’s why I always take a personal interest in my clients or coworkers. I am a people person, and that is what drives me to deliver good work, good products, and good service; in my current position and any new job that might cross my path in the future.”

Anneleid is a Transition Manager, which means she guides the transition clients are going through when they decide they need to bring their Food&Beverages to a higher level. Currently, she is managing our new client Booking.com which is going to move its HQ to the new Campus near Amsterdam Central Station. In this building, almost 4000 Booking.com employees will enjoy our Food Programs at the beginning of 2023.

Want to know more? Anneleid@joinprogram.com