How three entrepreneurs in Belgium made their business dream become reality

Vincent Verbeeck from Lier introduces Kasserol, the catering business he set up with his family

Kasserol is a food truck business that focuses on typical Belgian cuisine. As well as catering, we rent the truck to external clients and organise our own food truck festival: Kafé Kasserol in Lier, south of Antwerp.

We have our own field where we cultivate the vegetables for our dishes and we are starting a lunch shop in Antwerp in May. My brother is responsible for events and our community-supported agriculture project. My mother and my aunt are part of the driving force behind the project, and my father, who has a background in law, helps us with the legal stuff. It’s really a family business.

I trained as a chef and have worked in a lot of catering businesses, but I wanted to work for myself, have my own responsibilities, be creative in my own way. So we launched Kasserol three years ago. The catering business is very competitive, so the first year was a step into the unknown: How do I position myself, what food will I offer, who will be my customers, how will they respond? Like in everything, you have to fight to find your place.

Once you’ve established a comfortable position and reputation, you’re on the way to success. The hardest part is maintaining that path. Business is good, and we’ve had a lot of nice references. I can say that I’m successful, but I keep a cool head and both feet on the ground. I have to fight every day and be very critical about my work. The combination of work and family is an extra challenge, but for the moment I’ve found my balance.

Anne-Sofie van den Born Rehfeld from Denmark on The Library Group, which operates co-working spaces in Brussels

When I arrived in Brussels, I was struck by how difficult it was to leave your network and build up new connections in a new place, especially if you work from home. The Library was basically everything I was missing myself. It was easy to get the business off the ground; a good accountant is pretty much all you need. I haven’t met any serious red tape.

I would have started my company even sooner if I’d known how easy it would be. I would also have got help earlier if I’d been aware of the incentives for hiring employees via Actiris, for example. But otherwise, no regrets. My early mistakes were also chances to learn.

Brussels is a perfect place for new ideas. With so many cultures coming together, there is a lot of openness and curiosity. I’ve had so much goodwill from my bank, the press, the authorities, other entrepreneurs and clients. There’s a general feeling that people really want you to succeed. In this economy, we can’t count on having jobs created for us.

Sarah De Wulf on Againagain!, the toy rental service she set up with her sister, Greet

I worked in the toy industry for nine years, at a children’s furniture store. I quit because I was at a bit of a dead end and I wanted to develop something meaningful myself. At the same time, my sister returned after living in South Africa for more than 15 years. She’s a lawyer, but she had always said her dream job would allow her to be creative, make something beautiful and do something meaningful.

She loved my idea of toy rental subscriptions and we launched Againagain! about a year ago. Every three months, subscribers receive a new package of beautiful, educational toys. Three months later, you wrap everything up and swap it for a new package. We take care of the transport, handling, cleaning and reassembly.

When we were working on the idea, we made a point of not keeping it secret but speaking about it as much as possible. This proved fruitful, as we met loads of new people who helped us with parts of our business plan. I think this is the biggest advice to give any starter: get as much help and advice as possible, especially in the beginning, because that’s what will keep you going.

What struck us most, even if we were prepared for what was coming, is that starting a business is really a hurdles race: one issue gets solved, but the next is waiting just around the corner. So it’s nice that there are two of us: we can take turns in pulling the enthusiasm wagon. Againagain! is doing reasonably well, but there is an enormous gap between loving a responsible concept such as ours, and actually living it. So we have a lot of work before us. We will extend our age range, and are working on a new concept.

This article first appeared in The Bulletin Spring 2017