News / Discover who are our suppliers
In our approach in providing healthy and sustainable food, it is essential to choose suppliers offering foods that respect your health and the planet. Also, to give the chance to young, determined and committed producers seems essential to us in order to become an actor of sustainable change.
Here is a small listing of our main suppliers that give us the opportunity to fill your plates, glasses and mugs responsibly.
Organic & local vegetables:
De Groentelaar & Ecodal
De Groentelaar & Ecodal are our main vegetable suppliers. Both produce organic vegetables and are located in the Pajottenland, a vast area close to Brussels where soils are very fertile.
De Groentelaar
De Groentelaar was born from the passion of Tijs and Sander, two childhood friends passionate about nature, good food and by the job of farmer. Two guys as close to their land as their customers.
De Groentelaar is a human-sized company without over-production and over-consumption. They are the guardians of our fertile land.
For many years, they have been growing high quality vegetables in an organic and sustainable way. They offer “ordinary” vegetables such as beans, lettuce and courgette, as well as more special “forgotten” vegetables such as kale, chard and parsnips.
To find out more about De Groentelaar: www.degroentelaar.be.
Photo Source: De Groentelaar
Ecodal
Ecodal is the result of the collaboration between several organic fruit and vegetable producers in Pajottenland. SCRL Kestemont and other producers grow organic fruits and vegetables in greenhouses, tunnels and in open fields, allowing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to be offered throughout the four seasons.
To find out more about Ecodal: www.ecodal.eu
Photo Source: De Groentelaar
A bakery in its pure essence: Renard Bakery
What’s better than a very smooth baguette in the inside and crispy on the outside? This is one of the breads that is provided by Renard Bakery, located at Place Fernand Cocq, only 600m from our kitchen!
Renard Bakery is bread made with the finest ingredients and the time it takes for the dough to rise with calm and respect. Also, Laurent, Sophie and their team add another essential ingredient: the passion. All this combined together gives a bread that finds its essential qualities: tasty, nourishing and healthy.
To learn more about Renard Bakery: www.renardbakery.com.
Photo Source: Renard Bakery
Organic & tasty pasta: Terra & Tavola
Terra & Tavola is a wholesaler selecting the best artisanal and organic products from different Italian areas. It combines quality and flavor by offering high-end products from organic farming from Italy. The approach of Terra & Tavola aims to reconcile a qualitative requirement, the choice of the preservation of the environment and a mode of production that does not harm the small producers. All this in a family atmosphere. We meet the brother at the controls and the sister Lina at the after-sales service. A real pleasure garnished by a nice southern accent!
To learn more about Terra & Tavola: www.terra-tavola.be
Photo Source: Pxhere
Organic olive oil direct from Portugal
Olive oil is a key element of our cuisine to enhance the flavors. That’s why it’s important for us to use qualitative olive oil.
Eusebio is a producer of organic olive oil located in Braga, in northern of Portugal. He contacted us directly and we immediately loved its olive oil that blends perfectly with the cuisine we offer.
Photo Source: Pxhere
Artisanal beers brewed in Brussels: Brasserie de la Senne
For our main selection of beers, we once again emphasized the local & artisanal by choosing a brewery of choice based in Brussels: Brasserie de la Senne.
The beers of Brasserie de la Senne are produced by two passionate Brussels brewers: Yvan De Baets and Bernard Leboucq. They work in this small brewery, and make a point of making old-fashioned beer, unfiltered, unpasteurized, free of any additive, using only noble raw materials of first quality. These beers, with their complex flavor and well-marked personality, are real beers of character, made in Brussels.
To know more about Brasserie de la Senne: www.brasseriedelasenne.be
Photo Source: Brasserie de la Senne
Ethical drinks
For our choice of juices & sodas, it is more complex to choose local producers. However, we ensure to choose the best in terms of ethics, health and respect for the environment.
Tea & fruit juices: Oxfam Fairtrade
Social justice is also at the heart of our values. That’s why we have also decided to use Oxfam Fairtrade products that support farmers’ cooperatives by launching their products on the market and paying them fairly.
The goal of Oxfam Fairtrade is to improve the condition of thousands of farmers. Oxfam strives for a market with fair trade rules, a market where every vendor comes in to take a chance. Because the trade carried out honestly is the best lever of development and of an honorable existence. Oxfam pays a fair price to producers and in addition they receive a fair trade bonus. They spend this money on projects that the entire community can benefit from.
Also a big part of Oxfam products comes from organic farming.
To find out more about Oxfam Fairtrade: www.oxfamfairtrade.be
Photo Source: Oxfam Fairtrade
Organic & fair coffee: Café Liégeois
Created in 1955, Café Liégeois was born from Charles Liégeois’s passion for coffee. It is a Liege-based company (as the name suggests) that provides us Mano Mano coffee from organic farming and labeled Fair Trade.
In partnership with Terre Solidaire, this project is helping indigenous communities from Chiapas (Mexico) to develop coffee plantations and local vegetable crops, which are their main natural resources.
To find out more about our cafés in Café Liégeois: www.cafe-liegeois.com
Sodas: Bionade
Bionade are sodas like no other. These sodas are based on fruit juice and malt barley brewed like beer but non-alcoholic. All ingredients come from organic farming.
Those sodas are therefore more natural and more respectful of the environment and health.
To find out more about Bionade: www.bionade.de
Photo Source: Bionade
Cover image: Tijs and Sander from our vegetable supplier De Groentelaar. © Tim Vandewiele