Winning hearts and taste buds
From baguettes to royal wedding cakes, the Wittamer family business is a success story firmly rooted in Belgium
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, Belgium’s chocolates will soon be waging love’s war in thousands if not millions of households across the world. Yet connoisseurs may be surprised by the latest offering developed specially for Valentine’s Day by the century-old doyenne of Belgian gourmet confectionery, Wittamer: a chocolate containing ganache, tonka bean and Sichuan pepper. So far, so good… Except that the ‘Forever’ chocolate box has been subjected to the creative designs of a tattoo artist, the Brussels-based Emilie de la Perla. Because a tattoo, like love, is forever.
This shows that Wittamer is not afraid to play ball with the more edgy chocolatiers on the Sablon, rather than just rest on its laurels as an official supplier to the royal court. Yet this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to anyone familiar with the company, which in the past has shown a remarkable ability to innovate and change.
Each generation of Wittamers has left its mark on the family business. Henri Wittamer, who founded the business in 1910, was a baker; his son, Henri-Gustave Wittamer, was a pâtissier with a reputation for macaroons and cakes, whose wife, Yvonne, added the café to the original shop. Things continued in a similar vein with the next generation. Paul Wittamer left Belgium to study chocolate-making in Switzerland, returning to establish Wittamer’s now ebullient chocolate business. As for his sister, Myriam, who is now responsible for running the company, she saw an opportunity to expand into catering for businesses and private events.
At the same time, after a full century of trading, Wittamer remains in the family’s hands and operates out of the same building on Place du Grand Sablon. “The company is 101 years old and, personally, I am very attached to it,” says Myriam. “It’s hard to see yourself as a Wittamer on a purely personal level, without the company. As a young girl, I was always in here.”
Wittamer’s story is very much a Belgian one. “When my grandfather opened his bakery at 13 Place du Grand Sablon, the Marolles wasn’t really a chocolate kind of neighbourhood,” she says. Born at number 12, Myriam recalls growing up in a building full of activity, especially after her mother created the café on the first floor. In the old days they used to watch the jeux de paume (‘real tennis’, played without racquets) in the square below. “Things started to change when the antiquarians arrived in the Fifties and Sixties,” she says. “Now the Sablon is a kind of art area, with its museums and antique shops, the conservatory and the galleries, and all the other artisans who pursue art in their own way.”
As the area became more frequented, the range of people able to appreciate Wittamer’s artfulness increased. “Prince Albert used to come and queue here for his Christmas log just like everyone else,” Myriam says. So began an association with the royal court that saw Wittamer, among other things, serve the dessert at Prince Philippe’s wedding to Mathilde in 1999, and at Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz’s wedding 15 years earlier. Did this lead to Wittamer being recognised as an official supplier to the Belgian court? “No, that’s something that you apply for,” explains Myriam. “It doesn’t mean that we supply them all the time, though it’s seen as a mark of quality, in particular abroad.” At the same time, Myriam is careful to point out that Wittamer remains more than a royal supplier. “The court recognition is wonderful, but still it’s the clients themselves who matter. Each opinion is appreciated.”
Indeed, just as Wittamer has been astute in keeping with the times, it has not been shy of promoting its women. “My father decided that I should inherit equally with my brother as he thought I could handle being a female company head,” says Myriam, smiling broadly as she announces that her daughter, Leslie, is also now involved in the company. Shortly afterwards, a granddaughter arrives to kiss her hello, before retiring for teatime, perhaps still unaware of the luxury and prestige of the setting.
For in the meantime, Wittamer has become quite an institution. In keeping with such a role, it can claim to have formed a string of successful dessert chefs, including the chocolatier Pierre Marcolini, and to have seen various chocolate shops and delicatessens move into the square to capitalise on a reputation that owes much to number 13, which remains Wittamer’s flagship shop and is a cornucopia of all things gourmet. Quite literally, there’s something for everyone. Once you’ve eaten your way through the range of ganaches, pralines, truffles, alcools, fresh cream or pâte d’amandes chocolates, try the house’s famous macaroons. The deli-style fish and lasagne may also tempt prolonged attention and repeat visits, while the house’s rich ice-creams and cakes and delicate teas and coffees finish off a delightful display catering to all indulgences.
Yet for all the breadth of its offering, Wittamer has only two shops in Belgium, a fact that contrasts with the expansion seen by other independent Belgian chocolatiers. As a result, it has retained the artisanal ethic that has sustained the company since it was founded. By comparison, Wittamer’s one international adventure comes as something of a surprise. Having expanded into Japan in the early 1990s, it now boasts 15 branded shops across the country and the family maintains close relations with its Japanese partners, via numerous visits, exchanges and training programmes, again showing the same determination to keep a close grip on those products that bear the family’s name.
“The secret of our success? First and foremost, we were brought up to worship quality and customer service,” says Myriam, adding “though quality did not mean luxury, which was something that my father hated.” This picks up on the fine line that Wittamer has so far trodden between being a supplier to the royal court while remaining open to all. “Our success also rests on our only having two shops,” she says. “We remain artisanal and have not industrialised, so even if we offer a lot we haven’t lost our focus.”
This sounds like a vindication of the family business model, a set-up that is highly favoured in Belgium where, by some estimates, more than half of all businesses are family-owned. Indeed, if Belgium’s high streets appear to have resisted the rampant restaurant, bar and shop chains that have afflicted other countries, such as the UK, that may be due to Belgium’s consumers and tradesmen’s greater attachment to continuity, tradition and the personal aspect of commercial relations. Certainly, these values are an intrinsic part of the Wittamer model. “I feel a great sense of responsibility for the family’s business,” says Myriam.
And when asked for a cherished memory from her business life, the boss of this most Belgian of businesses provides a most Belgian response: “In the summer, I remember overhearing a Flemish couple, who were speaking among themselves, call Wittamer a national pride. You see, we try to avoid being categorised as a Flemish or a Walloon business.” Which goes to show that it’s not just the cabinet that strives to be apolitical.
A taster
Founded
1910
Founder
Henri Wittamer
Shops in Belgium
2 – Brussels
Location
12-13 Place du Grand Sablon
6 Place du Grand Sablon
Shops worldwide
15 in Japan
Photo by Bart Dewaele
