- People
- 28/05/2026
Anneke leaves TU/e after 40 years: “The coffee is always on”
For forty years, Anneke van Rijswijk provided catering services on campus. Now that she is retiring, she looks back on how TU/e has changed. “Whenever I brought coffee somewhere, there was often a small fridge stocked with alcohol waiting in the corner too.”
For the past forty years, Anneke van Rijswijk has been a familiar face at every event, pushing her cart filled with sandwiches and glasses of soda and champagne. Countless students and staff members bought pastries and apple turnovers from her in one of the cafeterias. “We could barely keep them in stock.”
For Van Rijswijk, retiring brings mixed feelings. “You’ve been here for forty years. It takes some getting used to. You meet so many wonderful people. I’ve made a lot of close friends here. I look back on it all with great affection. Although it certainly wasn’t always sunshine and roses.”
Connection
Van Rijswijk is sitting at a table in the middle of the Auditorium. During the interview, several people stop by for a chat. “I feel very connected to a lot of people. I strike up conversations with just about anyone. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the mayor or a student.”
Van Rijswijk grew up in boarding schools and foster families. She moved out at a young age. She says she owes her cheerful and positive outlook on life to her sister. “She always supported me unconditionally and took me in during difficult times. And she did that for everyone. Her house was always open. At my place, the coffee is always on. That’s something I learned from her.”
Everyone who walks by in the Auditorium is immediately asked for an email address so Van Rijswijk can invite them to her farewell reception on June 2. “There are new people joining every week, but if I forgot to invite you, feel free to stop by!"
Nerds
Two weeks after starting at the university through employment agency Randstad in 1986, she was asked to join permanently. “I really thought I’d end up among boring nerds and only men. The latter turned out to be true, but those nerds do enjoy a good party. That prejudice disappeared within a week.”
The catering providers at TU/e change regularly. Van Rijswijk first worked for catering company Van Hecke (later Sodexho) for twenty years. She then spent five years at Albron, eight years at Eurest, one year at Vitam, and currently works for Appèl. During that time, she saw the food in the cafeterias change considerably.
Less fat, more expensive
“Back when I started, we sold individual packs of deli meats. We had white and whole wheat bread rolls or raisin buns. Every day we sold 250 croquettes and bami patties. They went for a guilder over the counter. Nowadays things have become more sustainable and more vegetarian. The food is also less greasy and considerably more expensive.”
Still, the most noticeable change has been the amount of alcohol consumed on campus. “People drank an unbelievable amount of alcohol. Whenever I brought coffee somewhere, there was often a small fridge stocked with alcohol waiting in the corner too. Even among professors and the Executive Board.”
“Especially in Walhalla (the bar of study association Thor, ed.), you’d see everyone there: from students to secretaries. Students paid 174 guilders for the reception after graduating. For that, they got a fifty-liter keg of beer, juices, cheese, and sausage. Once the beer was gone, the reception was over. I don’t drink anymore, but back then we all enjoyed it.”
More commercial
These days, things are a bit calmer, Van Rijswijk notices. “I’m the type of person who likes to give people something extra now and then. Back in the day, I felt like anything was possible. Money wasn’t such an issue. Now every cent is carefully considered. The university has become much more businesslike and commercial.”
As an example, she points to the various parties that used to be organized. “People used to call the Auditorium ‘the Amsterdam of TU/e.’ This is where Studium Generale performances were held. During staff parties, the lecture halls would be transformed into a casino, a brown café, or a cocktail bar.”
Van Rijswijk points toward the middle of the hall. “And right there, Rob de Nijs or Paul de Leeuw would be performing. People from all over Eindhoven came to see it. Afterwards, all the women would still be doing dishes together until two in the morning.”
The Fire
Still, Van Rijswijk says it was not always easy. She was the first to raise the alarm when a fire broke out in the Auditorium in 1994. “It was three in the afternoon. All these little black clouds started coming down. Within two minutes, the entire building was pitch black. When I called the fire department – by then they already knew me too – I had to stress that it was not a prank.”
No one was injured during the fire, but it took until the following morning before it was under control. “Together with my husband and colleagues, I provided coffee, soup, and sandwiches for the crisis team of the Executive Board and the firefighters until one o’clock at night.”
Years later, it turned out she had made a lasting impression. “I had my wedding photos taken here on the roof of the Auditorium by two former Architecture students. Then the fire department surprised me. They were waiting for me with a bouquet of roses as a thank-you.”
Several deaths also left a lasting impression on Van Rijswijk. She cherishes fond memories of her former supervisor at Van Hecke, Thijs Teeuwen. “Whenever I’m standing in the pantry and things get hectic, I always think of him.”
“He accepted you for who you were, laughed at you when you were handling catering for 150 people all by yourself, but afterward he would always help out. Once I was having a water fight with a colleague and he walked in. I can still hear him saying it: ‘Van Rijswijk, you’ll never learn, will you?’”
Not slowing down
Van Rijswijk may be retiring now, but she has no intention of taking it easy. “During the coronavirus pandemic, I got involved with Ready2Help, the citizen aid network of the Red Cross. I also signed up at neighborhood center ’t Oude Raadshuis in Tongelre and I volunteer at Stichting Zorg en Wonen Glorieux. I’m definitely going to continue doing that, so I certainly won’t be sitting still.”
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