All about the origins of XXL Nutrition!

XXL Nutrition has been the Netherlands' most popular webshop for years, specialising in supplements, sports nutrition, training accessories, and sportswear. But what’s the story behind it? You’ll find out in this article about the origin of XXL Nutrition, written by none other than the founder himself: René!

TIP: Prefer watching instead of reading? Then check out this video where Jayjay Boske from Day1 visits René, the founder of XXL Nutrition!

What came before

As a passionate bodybuilder, I struggled to find a protein powder that didn’t give me stomach and digestive issues. At one point, I tried a whey protein at a friend’s place in Germany, and for the first time, I had no stomach problems. He sourced this whey from a local producer in his town. This manufacturer mainly made baby food but also produced high-quality sports nutrition for several expensive German brands.

From that moment on, I started getting my whey from there, which at the time came in 2,500-gram aluminium bags. Every time I went to pick it up, more and more people asked me to bring some back for them as well. I was driving there anyway and did this as a favour, first with my car, but soon enough I needed a van. This favour was primarily for people involved in bodybuilding competitions, as that was the circle I was part of.

The motivator

In early 2004, I used all my savings and some borrowed money from work to buy a BMW Cabrio. Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived because within two weeks, I crashed the car into a lamppost. The car was a total loss, I owed my work money, and I was left with a horrible feeling.

I couldn’t sleep, and all I could think was: "This can’t be happening! How can I earn this money back?! What should I do?!"

The idea

Soon, I thought about the whey I was always bringing back and how everyone was happy with it. The garage next to the house was now empty since the car was gone, so I had space to store products. After a good conversation with the German producer, who also made other supplements like creatine and amino acids, I had to come up with a brand name. It was now the summer of 2004, and I remember lying on the beach when the name suddenly came to me: XXL Nutrition! It seemed like the perfect name for the brand. After doing some research, I saw that the brand didn’t exist yet and the domain (www.xxlnutrition.nl) was still available. I quickly registered both the brand and the URL.

However, I ran into the problem that I was broke—all my money had gone into the crashed BMW. I calculated that I could start with an amount of €5,000. Eventually, I was able to borrow this money from my parents, despite hearing at least 10 times from various people: "Don’t do it, no one’s waiting for this, there are already so many brands..."

The execution

I found traditional (American) supplement brands very expensive. Additionally, I noticed there wasn’t a supplement brand that provided quality at an affordable price. Prices were inflated by importers, wholesalers, and stores, all needing to make a profit on the product. I wanted to change that and sell XXL Nutrition products directly to athletes. This had to be done through the internet. I bought a book called “Frontpage for Dummies” and cobbled the first website together myself. Looking back, it was absolutely awful, but it worked, and you could place orders on it. I made the product labels in PowerPoint, which resulted in a rather colourful combination of yellow, orange, red, and blue.

We are XXL Nutrition and work every day to help you get the most out of yourself!

Late 2004: The start of XXL Nutrition

The XXL Nutrition website went live at the end of 2004, offering only our own brand products: two types of whey, creatine, amino acids, and a few other products. I partnered with the then-popular Dutch Bodybuilding Forum, now known as Bodybuilding.nl, where I could advertise and engage in discussions with customers.

It all started with a few packages a day, but demand and interest quickly grew. Most of my customers were competitive athletes, as that’s where it all began, and word spread fast. In the evenings, I packed all the orders, and during my work breaks, I dropped them off at the post office. By mid-2005, I quit my job and fully committed to XXL Nutrition.

Now, over 15 years later...

...the same mission still drives XXL Nutrition: ‘Creating high-quality products and offering them at affordable prices’. Team XXL has grown significantly over the years, from just myself in the beginning to a team of 65 people today. This team works tirelessly to ensure everything runs smoothly and to achieve continuous improvements. Think of a constantly growing product range, more and better products, ongoing quality control, training videos, the XXL Sportswear clothing line, lots of interaction with our customers, sponsorship of various events and competitions, and much more. You’ll see us in many gyms, and we have a team of four people on the road daily. Since 2017, we’ve also been prominently present at FIBO. Today, we don’t only deliver within the Netherlands but all across Europe and even beyond!

What started with existing products from one German manufacturer has now evolved, with all our products produced under our own recipes.

Quality always comes first

“If there’s one key word when it comes to nutritional supplements, it’s trust.”

We've been monitoring the quality of our products through lab tests for years. While we trust our manufacturers, we prefer to verify them continuously. For outsiders, this approach may seem excessive, but for us, it’s second nature. If there’s one key word that’s important in nutritional supplements, it’s trust. In our sport, where food is weighed down to the gram, training lasts two hours a day for six days a week, and months are spent on strict dieting to hit that one moment on stage, you need to trust the supplements you’re taking. You want to be 100% sure that what’s on the label is what’s inside, which sadly isn’t always the case with many brands.

Our approach to handling supplements and customers has positively impacted the growth of XXL Nutrition and has led to a long-standing partnership with the Dutch Bodybuilding Federation (NBBF/IFBB). Since 2018, we’ve been the main sponsor of the NBBF to further our involvement in the sport.

In May 2018, we opened our new 2800m² warehouse, but it soon proved too small. The 2500m² expansion was completed in November 2019, and we’ve recently started using it. This expansion allows us to offer a wider range of products and process more orders.

We want to thank everyone for their trust in us and look forward to welcoming you as a customer in our shop for many years to come.

Sportive regards,
René and Team XXL