To celebrate Conceptional's 15th anniversary, we sat down with founder and CEO Reoewein Niesten to trace the journey, from a teenage passion for hospitality to an international consultancy that has redefined how Food & Beverage concepts are created, activated, and scaled. In this candid conversation, Reoewein shares the spark that started it all, the learning curve of entrepreneurship, and what continues to shape Conceptional's unique approach.
It started when I was around 13 or 14. I would order books and subscribe to magazines about food, restaurant concepts, and the hospitality world. I was genuinely fascinated by how people eat, behave, and connect in spaces. And it helped that my mother was a great cook! Food was part of our life at home, and it became a passion for me too.
Later, when I worked for international foodservice companies, I was exposed to many different elements: concept development, placemaking, operations. But I started to notice a gap in the industry: you had design agencies on one side, operators on the other. But no strong bridge between them.
That's what sparked the idea for Conceptional. I wanted to create that bridge, not just designing a space, but creating the entire experience, from strategic intent to operational excellence. And yes, there was also a personal ambition. I wanted to become an entrepreneur. The timing, just after the 2009–2010 crisis, was challenging, but it also created momentum for something new.
I started completely on my own. Then came the first team member, Annelieke May, followed by another colleague about six months later. One of our first key projects was in 2010 for Efteling, where we worked on two restaurants. That's actually where I met Dirk van den Wijngaard, who would later become a core member of the team and our Creative Director and Partner.
At the same time, I was still working on assignments for my former employer, Avolta (HMSHost), and doing work at Schiphol Airport. It was a very diverse period — a mix of single-site projects and larger-scale transformations.
After about a year, our scope naturally shifted. Placemaking evolved into full-scale masterplanning, which opened doors to a new type of project: not just designing experiences, but strategically planning the entire food & beverage layer of complex environments like airports and shopping malls.
What I loved about those first years is that I touched every part of the business. I did business development, marketing, recruitment, project follow-up, and the website... You name it. But to grow, you have to build a strong team. That's when we brought in more seniors and juniors. When Fred van Aken joined as Managing Director about 7 years ago, it allowed me to focus more on innovation, strategic direction, and business development.
Today, we're structured differently, but I'm still closely involved in the projects, that creative core has never left.
It happened gradually. We didn't set out to be global from day one. But because we had experience in different areas, travel, leisure, retail, and because our method is adaptable, we were pulled into new markets organically.
Clients would ask us: 'You worked on this airport — could you look at our shopping centre?' Or: 'You helped us here, can you now rethink our food court in another country?'
Our first projects — Efteling, HMSHost, Schiphol, Uplace — created a kind of momentum. They demonstrated our ability to think beyond food. We could help shape destinations. And that naturally attracted more complex projects across Europe and beyond.
But the real key to operating internationally is understanding culture. After hotel business school, I studied cultural management, and that helped me realise: 50% of the success of a concept lies in understanding how people live, eat, and interact. So we go on-site, we observe, we research deeply. A client once told us, 'You know our city better than we do,' and that was after just a few weeks of immersion. That's how we work.
Beyond just insight, we also bring a fresh perspective. Sometimes, just by asking the right questions or reframing an assumption, we help clients see their own spaces differently. That's often where the value lies. You need to feel the context, and then bring in a fresh set of eyes to turn those insights into solutions that are both relevant and differentiating.
We often say, 'We work with our clients, not for them.' That's not just a line; it reflects our way of thinking. When we enter a project, we stand on the same side as the client. We ask ourselves: 'Would we invest in this concept if it were our own money?'
That mindset leads to honest conversations. Sometimes we challenge the brief. Sometimes we push back. It doesn't always make the relationship easier, but it builds trust and gets better results.
Our job is not to make a concept only look good; it's to make it work. That means going beyond aesthetics. We connect strategy, culinary identity, customer behaviour, operations, brand DNA, everything. We don't do cut-and-paste solutions. We build tailor-made experiences that are operationally feasible, emotionally engaging, and commercially relevant. That's why we believe in our 360-degree approach.
We also love to collaborate with the right partners, whether it's designers, architects, or chefs. Every project is a puzzle, and we love connecting the pieces. At the same time, we make life easier for our clients. There's often so much on their minds — deadlines, investments, internal politics. Our role is to simplify decision-making, relieve that pressure, and bring clarity and confidence to the process.
We started with a focus on concept and brand development, but today, our work spans everything from placemaking to portfolio strategy and transformation. That evolution came from listening — listening to clients, understanding their challenges, and anticipating where the market is heading. We recognise how challenging it can be to navigate today's fast-changing landscape. That's why we're here: to help you gain a deeper understanding of where the market is going — and to turn that understanding into clear, confident action, even amid complexity, competition, digitalisation, shifting customer needs, and sustainability demands.
So we evolved to help them navigate that. And we're still evolving. We always say: we've never done less — we've always done more. Not because we want to do everything, but because we want to do what's needed to make it work.
The same thing that got me started: curiosity and passion. I'm still fascinated by how food brings people together, by how places can tell stories, by how we can shape environments that make people feel something. That's what keeps me going.
And also, the team. Watching people grow, take ownership, bring in their own perspectives — that's incredibly rewarding. This is not a solo journey anymore. It's a collective story, and we're still writing it together.
As the food and hospitality landscape continues to shift, Reoewein is focused on staying ahead, not just by following trends, but by deeply understanding what they mean for clients.
Passion gets you started. But adaptability keeps you going.
With growing attention on AI, changing investment behaviours post-COVID, and rising geopolitical uncertainty, Conceptional is navigating a complex, fast-moving world. A follow-up conversation is already on the cards to dive deeper into these shifts — and how they'll shape the next chapter.
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