Maik Kuijpers, former De Librije chef, dies at 40

Maik Kuijpers, who spent fourteen years in the kitchen of three-Michelin-star restaurant De Librije in Zwolle, has died at 40.

Kuijpers fell ill on 20 September after finishing the Dam tot Damloop, the 16-kilometre run from Amsterdam to Zaandam, according to Dutch broadcaster Oost and trade title Misset Horeca. He suffered a heart attack and fell into a coma from which he did not wake. He died six days later, on 26 September.

He joined De Librije's kitchen in 2004, at 19, and worked his way up to become the right hand of head chef Jonnie Boer, Misset Horeca reports. The restaurant, housed in a former 16th-century monastery library in Zwolle, has held three Michelin stars since 2004 and remains the only restaurant in the Netherlands with that rating. Under the Boers, De Librije built its reputation on foraged, hyper-local ingredients from the Dutch countryside, a style that shaped a generation of chefs who trained there.

Zwolle's only three-star kitchen has now lost the two chefs who built it, seventeen months apart.

Fourteen years at Jonnie Boer's side

Kuijpers left De Librije in 2018, after fourteen years in its kitchen. He went on to found Brasserie Carstens and served as the culinary lead behind restaurant De Eendracht, both in the Netherlands, according to Misset Horeca. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Former colleagues have paid tribute since news of his death broke. Chef Adrian Zarzo thanked Kuijpers "for everything you taught me, but above all what you passed on to the current generation," according to regional outlet Drimble. Chef Bobby Rust described their years together as "a crazy time we will never forget."

A second loss for De Librije's kitchen

Jonnie Boer, Kuijpers' mentor and De Librije's chef-patron, died in April 2025 at 60, after a pulmonary embolism while on holiday on Bonaire, Belgian broadcaster VRT reported at the time. He and his wife, Thérèse Boer, had run the restaurant together since 1993, building it into the country's only three-star address.

Thérèse Boer, De Librije's co-owner, wrote online this week that Kuijpers was "so young and athletic" and called his death "terribly intense," according to Dutch outlet Linda.

De Librije continues to serve three-Michelin-star menus in Zwolle.