The family run Van der Valk hotel group is moving into supermarkets and opened its first ‘Valk Versmarkt’ store in Voorschoten last week.

The ‘fresh market’ is next door to the company’s De Gouden Leeuw restaurant in the Zuid-Holland town.

‘I had 3,000 customers in the first three days,’ Marcus van der Valk told Trouw. ‘We are combining the purchasing for the supermarket with that for the restaurant which allows us to insist on lower prices,’ he said.

Van der Valk plans to open stores next to its hotels in Akersloot in Noord-Holland and Zwolle in Overijssel later this year, and in the rest of the country over the coming years.