Chocolaterie Van Hoorebeke is a family-run Belgian chocolate shop established in 1982 and situated on Sint-Baafsplein in the heart of Ghent.
While the father and son pairing of Luc and Cédric Van Hoorebeke are the public faces of Chocolaterie Van Hoorebeke, the business know-how and ambition of Luc’s wife, Christine, has played a central role in their rise.
CHOCOLATERIE VAN HOOREBEKE
Such has been the success of their main shop in the city centre, that Christine’s son, Cédric, opened a second Van Hoorebeke chocolate shop in 2008 in the Jan Breydelstraat.
We asked Christine Van Hoorebeke what she felt the three main factors to their success had been, and there was no hesitation in her answer:
Quality. Reputation. Location.
1. QUALITY
Quality of product is the keystone to any successful business and Chocolaterie Van Hoorebeke are keen to stress that their business is no different.
The quality of their chocolate begins with the raw ingredients they source – boxes of 5kg tablets of Callebaut chocolate made from the finest cocoa – as well as the equipment they use, most of which comes from Chocolate World in Antwerp and Prefamac Chocolate Machines in Limburg.
Luc has spent more than 30 years training, learning and improving his chocolate making skills. Together with his son, Cédric, they have mastered chocolate making by both machine and hand, and they spend hours and hours producing their chocolates.
They make no apologies for being conservative in their approach to chocolate making and they pay homage to the rich tradition of Belgian chocolate by producing a sophisticated assortment of classic Belgian pralines.
“Some of our customers go to a lot of other more experimental chocolatiers but they come back to us and tell us they prefer our classical pralines”, Christine tells us.
We are treated to a first hand demonstration of this quality and tradition when Christine produces their Caramel Fleur de Sel praline for us to try. A magical creaminess erupted in our mouths, a balance of the caramel sweetness, a subtle salt kick, the rich chocolate taste and the decadent buttery flavours. It was wonderful. No surprise it’s one of their best sellers.
2. REPUTATION
Christine told us the story of a recent visit by a group of Swiss people to the shop. “Swiss people think they have the best chocolate,” she says. “Ok, let them think about it.”
After the Swiss had tasted the Van Hoorebeke chocolates, they admitted to Christine that the Belgian chocolates were much better than chocolates they had tasted in their own country. “And they’re from Switzerland!” Christine says. “Those people no doubt told all their friends about Chocolaterie Van Horebeke.”
People talk. “We have a guest book,” says Christine. “It’s nice to read that for many, these are the best chocolates they have ever tasted.”
The increasing visitor numbers in Ghent over the last number of years have helped to spread the word about the shop. “We do really good business because tourists buy for the family and their children,” she says. “We have a lot of business men who come to Belgium, sometimes for one month. They ask in their hotel where they can buy the best chocolates. People who are on cruises from all over the world, they come to Belgium for the chocolate and they want to come here to our shop.”
It’s not hard to like this chocolate shop. The outside of the building has an old-worldy feel to it and inside, through a viewing window on the floor, you can see Cédric and Luc working on the chocolates.
“We get emailed to ask for chocolate”, Christine tells us. “People come here and want to learn about the culture of our chocolates. We show them the traditional way Belgian chocolates are made.”
Chocolaterie Van Hoorebeke produces chocolate in a classic style, but they are certainly not boring. They sometimes use unusual ingredients but are careful to explain to their customers what to expect before offering a taste. “Sometimes we use mint, cinnamon, ginger or a little bit of chilli pepper,” says Christine. “If we fill a box, we ask them, because if you include the ginger one without them knowing, they don’t know what it is and they think something is wrong. They need to know the chilli pepper is a little bit picante.”
3. LOCATION
‘Location, location, location’ is a phrase often used by estate agents to emphasise the importance to your business of where you are based. The world of chocolate is no different.
Christine and Luc started their small business on 8 August 1982 in a location outside of Ghent’s city centre. They were young and under the financial strains that come with starting a business. “It was a very beautiful little shop,” says Christone. “We were 23 years old and we had to pay a lot of Belgian Francs to meet our loan repayments.”
After 18 years in that area, it was to get worse. The profile of the area in which they were based changed as Ghent grew. The emerging university vibe in the city attracted both the energetic artisans of a new Flemish cultural scene as well as a burgeoning student crowd, neither of whom were interested in buying high-end Belgian chocolates.
It was a difficult time for them. “After 18 years there, the commercial revenue was going down,” says Christine. “We stood still. I had more ambition than that. I wanted to break out.”
And then the eureka moment. Luc and Christine were approached to sell their chocolates at a fair in Ghent for one afternoon. Their demonstration took place in the city centre and that one day of trading was so successful that it opened their eyes to what a location in the city centre might do for their business.
On the back of this experience, Luc and Christine closed the shop for a day and walked around Ghent, exploring the city by chocolate, noticing the rapid increase in tourism. “It was not then, like it is now”, Christine tells us. “In the last 14 years, we’ve seen it change a lot. Every year.”
When exploring this change of location, they first had an opportunity to take over a more established chocolate brand in the city, but after discussions with their accountant and a refocussing on their own dream, they decided not to. “Perhaps it was for the best, because it never had the possibilities like here,” Christine says.
Even when they found their beautiful building on Sint-Baafsplein, it wasn’t easy. When they first viewed it, the building was in bad repair and needed refurbishment. There was no furniture and they had reservations about the hygiene of the building, a major priority for them as a chocolate shop.
Seeing the cellar, they thought it might be a great place for their workshop and they wanted to take a risk on the potential of the place. But a young couple with a business, costs were a huge factor, and they weren’t going to be able to afford it. Nevertheless, they met with the owner immediately. “We had a meeting that afternoon with the owner, and it clicked from the start,” says Christine. “After one week and three conversations, it was signed.”
The lessons the family learnt about location early on were of huge benefit to Cédric when he was opening up his own shop with his wife in 2008. “When that property became available we saw growth in chocolate making in Ghent,” says Christine. “We told him that if he didn’t do it, someone else would. It is 6 years since they started the business now.”
WORK ETHIC
Hard work underpins most other factors in successful businesses. “Our business was big from the start,” says Christine. “We work a lot by hand and by machinery and it’s very hard working. We were open 7 days a week and still do the same to this day.”
You can have a quality product. You can build a strong reputation. And you can discover a winning location for your business.
But if you’re not willing to work hard, you’ll never be a Chocolaterie Van Hoorebeke.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Chocolatier Luc Van Hoorebeke
Sint-Baafsplein 15
9000 Gent
Tel: +32 (0) 9 221 03 81
Open Every Day 1000 – 1800
Email: lvh@chocolatesvanhoorebeke.be
Chocolatier Cédric Van Hoorebeke
Jan Breydelstraat 1
9000 Gent
Tel: +32 (0) 9 224 25 10
Open Every Day 1000 – 1800
Email: info@chocolatesvanhoorebeke.be
DISCLAIMER
We visited Chocolaterie Van Hoorebeke because we wanted to write a story about them. We paid for our own chocolates. The only thing we received from Christine was her time.
