Patrick and Erwin weren’t tech founders - they were two young supermarket managers buried in communication chaos. Schedules were a mess, updates were missed, and sick-day replacements were an endless string of phone calls. One question kept buzzing in their heads:

Fueled by late-night coffees and Dutch social network nostalgia (shoutout to Hyves), they built a prototype:

• Schedules? Fixed.
• Communication? Clear.
• Frustrations? Gone.

They called it Supermarket Central - because what else do you call a lifeline for supermarket managers?

Within a year, they had 50 clients. A simple solution had snowballed into something way bigger.

With encouragement from an angel investor, Patrick and Erwin took the leap. They quit their jobs, pooled their savings, and committed to building something bigger. They rebranded Supermarket Central as Speakap and expanded their vision to

‍solve communication challenges across industries.

It wasn’t easy. Startups weren’t “a thing” yet, and resources were tight. But their belief in solving real-world communication problems kept them going.

For years, Speakap made a name for itself in retail, hospitality, manufacturing, and other frontline industries by delivering on what companies actually needed:

• Clear, timely communication.
• Simplified schedules.
• Engagement that didn’t feel forced.

We skipped the tech fads (remember when gamification was everything?) and stayed focused on practical solutions for the frontline.

2020 was the tipping point. If you’ve tracked workplace trends, you know what happened. The world of work got… complicated.

• Too many apps
• Too many tools
• Too little connection

Frontline teams were drowning in digital clutter. Companies were losing the plot. 

So we evolved. Speakap transformed from a communication tool into a full employee experience platform, bringing everything together in one practical platform:

• Onboarding: No more duct-taped solutions
• Engagement: Meaningful, not performative
• Analytics: Actionable insights, not fluff
• Training and Compliance: Built in, not bolted on
• Communication: Clear, instant, and intuitive
• Digital Workplace: Consolidates your tools into one simple, powerful platform

This isn’t some futuristic vision. It’s what workplaces need right now.

While the past 15 years have brought incredible growth, we’re just getting started. Our mission isn’t to coast. It’s to keep building, solving, and redefining what it means to work as one.

Patrick always says:

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,”