Frederic Blondeel in Brussels, Belgium

Frederic Blondeel, Owner

Origins

I did cooking school, then military service and I worked for my father also. When I was 20, my mother said, “What do you want for your birthday?” My parents were coffee roasters, but I wanted a small chocolate machine. I made chocolates at home and I sold the chocolates for her. I’ve been in the business 30 years now and I was named the best chocolate maker in Belgium a few years ago. But most important for me are the customers who trust what they are getting. I had another location at the seaside and three shops in the center, but I decided to sell them, because I could not manage all the shops and still ensure the right process. I don’t like to be in the shop controlling everybody.

Company Mission

You have so many places you go where something about the product is fake. Here it’s true. Some people say, “Oh, but of course you don’t actually go to the plantation where the beans come from.” I do. In every plantation, I know the sourcing from the origin. I know the people. I don’t fly, if I can help it. I travel by motorbike, even from here down to Senegal. I want to touch people, touch product, touch culture. If I respect each person, each step of the process, you will taste it in my chocolate.

Signature Products

Anything with hazelnuts. We get the best from Piemonte. I am also very proud of our beans from Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Venezuela, now Vietnam and my favorite from India. Our beans are very stable. Find the right person who works on beans. It’s not the tree that makes cacao; it’s the person making sure of the quality. Criollo? Trinitario? Forastero? forget it. Just find the right person. We buy directly from the plantation. Then the product is good. We make coffee, of course. We make hot chocolate, ice cream, biscuits. But we are known for our chocolates. We make spreads, dragees, vegan products. We use matcha from Japan to make some chocolates. But my favorite chocolate? I make one for my oldest daughter with green cardamom. It’s very special to me.

Production Tip

Make the most you can, but don’t lose quality. Know what is the point where you can be sure of the quality and when you can’t. We have two conches doing 650 kilograms. We make 1.3 tons a day. We make hazelnut spread one ton per day. Then we make 450 kilos in small batches. For the industry, it’s nothing. Barry Callebault in half an hour makes what I make in a whole year. It’s 800,000 tons a year. I’m surprised that the quality is so high with such big business, but for me, I want to touch everything. I cannot be too much bigger. Or else I need more eyes for my head.

Equipment ‘Must-Haves’

This is my roasting system. Fifteen years ago, we asked a big company to make the oven. I grew up with roasting. I went to Italy to get really a great roaster, because usually with beans coming from everywhere, you have to be careful about bacteria. This roaster allows you to roast well at a low temperature — even, smooth, no burn — but it debacterializes very well. The roaster runs 14 hours, and I’m here at nighttime also. I’m here all the time. In October, November, when we have the most business, I come here early in the morning, then I go home to sleep for two or three hours and then I am here into the evening. People think I’m crazy.

Secrets of Success

Follow your idea and never give up. For 15 years I was in the shit. Each time I had to put my credit card, I changed the card. I didn’t want to look at the bills. But I knew I had a good product. For a time, I had no electricity in the morning. My bookkeeper said to me, “You have to stop,” so I said to my bookkeeper, “Olivier, if I stop, what’s left over?” So I continued. I had a friend who worked at the seaside, and he told me, “Tomorrow morning you will find the solution.” Finally, some mornings, the solutions and results started coming.

Future Goals

My kids. Maybe they’re going to take over. I would like to do something extra out of this company. I want to go to Piemonte. They have everything in Piemonte: the people, the culture, the food, the sea, the mountains. They have everything there. My whole life I was thinking of a restaurant. I will not die before I have a restaurant. So maybe there. I almost came to New York; I had talks, but it was too difficult. I wanted to start in Geneva in 1994, but I was too young. In the right place, at the right time, it will happen.

Photo by Caroline Mays

For more info, visit www.frederic-blondeel.be

(This article appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)