The number of companies selling deep-fried oliebollen in the Netherlands has gone up almost 40% over the past 11 years, according to news website Nu.nl.

In 2013, 307 oliebollen sellers were written in at the Chamber of Commerce but their number has now gone up to 425. Oliebollen are a Dutch New Year staple and stalls spring up on street corners all over the country as winter approaches.

Atze Lubach-Koers, chairman of the Dutch fairground association Bovak, told Nu.nl that this winter some 1,200 oliebollen stalls are dotted through the country. But the real figure could be higher because some sellers are listed as fairground attraction operators, he said.

Most are based in Gelderland, with Noord-Brabant in second place.