After fintech, investor Jürgen Ingels has ambitions in another sector. Together with his friends Gert Bervoets (H.Essers) and Tom Hochepied, he ventures into frozen desserts. ‘We are going to expand Mekabe in Europe.’
Jürgen Ingels is regularly featured in De Tijd as a founder or financier of fintech companies, but the fact that the tech entrepreneur also has an eye for more worldly matters is evident from a new investment from Firefly Ventures. Ingels set up this fund together with Gert Bervoets, the CEO of the transport group H.Essers, and top marketer Tom Hochepied. The trio takes a majority stake in Mekabe, a family business specialized in frozen desserts.
From the muffins in a sandwich shop to the crème brûlée in the local brasserie to the most refined patisserie served by gastronomic restaurants: there is a real chance that they have passed through Mekabe’s frozen warehouse in Diksmuide.
Mekabe is the company of the West Flemish entrepreneurial family Pommé. He has been active in ice cream since paterfamilias Jackie Pommé first drove out with his ice cream truck 46 years ago. One ice cream cart quickly became several ice cream carts, after which Pommé saw it even bigger. He became the exclusive importer and distributor of the Swiss ice cream brand Mövenpick. “That was 10 euros more expensive per pot, but the quality was correspondingly,” says Pommé. ‘If I have learned anything in all these years, it is that quality always survives.’
After Pommé sold his ice cream wholesaler in the late 2000s, the blood was crawling where it couldn’t go. Together with his son Nick, the entrepreneur decided to try something small. In 2010 they took over Mekabe, a frozen company specialized in ice cream with a turnover of around 150,000 euros at that time. It turned out to be the basis on which father and son would together build a unique player in the Belgian catering landscape. The company will achieve a turnover of around 8 million euros this year.
Profile Mekabe
- Distributor and producer of frozen desserts, based in Diksmuide.
- Taken over by the Pommé family in 2010. It had a turnover of around 150,000 euros at the time. This year turnover is expected to reach 8 million euros.
- Last year the company recorded 650,000 euros in operating profit (EBIT). The net profit was 475,000 euros.
- 15 employees in Belgium, 2 in the Netherlands.
From a frozen depot in Diksmuide, Mekabe is today the link between a range of restaurants and caterers, and all possible types of desserts and sweets. From the muffins in a sandwich shop to the crème brûlée in the local brasserie to the most refined patisserie served by luxury caterers or gastronomic restaurants: there is a real chance that they have passed through Mekabe’s frozen warehouse.
Pasteis de nata from Portugal
The majority of Mekabe’s 90-page catalog comes from external suppliers, often small manufacturers with a good product but without a solid sales channel. ‘Our pasteis de nata come from a small bakery in Portugal. We were the first to get there,” says Jackie Pommé. ‘What they make is so good, oh vint, that’s unbelievable. Working with us opens up a new market for them. That’s a win-win. Finding those types of players and making them accessible is our strength.’
It has become almost unaffordable for restaurateurs to employ their own pastry chef.
The company recently started its own workshop, where it develops gastronomic desserts and produces them in substantial volumes. Top restaurants and caterers can stock up on finished desserts there or choose a basic product with which they can get creative. “It has become almost unaffordable for restaurateurs to hire their own pastry chef,” says Claire Lemahieu, investment manager at Firefly Ventures. ‘The labor costs are too high and the volumes you produce too low to be profitable. Mekabe solves that problem.’
©Wouter Van Vooren
To prove that gastronomic desserts can be frozen, Pommé digs up some samples from the workshop. He proudly cuts a bâton brûlé, a raspberry pleasure and a moon forest. Even though we are sitting at a kitchen table in a warehouse, we have to admit that we feel like we are in the better establishment. “You understand why we even serve a star chef,” Pommé chuckles. “No, I’m not going to say which one.”
Combining knowledge
With Firefly Ventures on board, the ambition is to quickly expand Mekabe internationally, says Lemahieu. ‘Our unique combination of extreme product knowledge in wholesale and our own development with a specialized sales team that knows the market well can work anywhere. We are working on a plan to set up a similar distribution network as in Belgium with local partners in our neighboring countries. In the Netherlands we started with a local freezer, which we supply from Diksmuide.’
“There are many opportunities for Mekabe,” says Lemahieu. ‘By combining the expertise of the Pommé family with our knowledge of scaling up a business, we can seize it.’
Firefly Ventures previously invested in the dog food company Degomeat, in the Ghent chain of ghost kitchens Casper (restaurants that cook exclusively for home delivery) and in the cleaning products specialist Innovis. The latter participation was sold to the hygiene group WVT.
Ingels: ‘Learning in the dessert sector’
For an entrepreneur who is deeply involved in fintech, Jürgen Ingels seems far from his bed with the takeover of the frozen dessert company Mekabe. “But that is precisely the intention of Firefly Ventures,” says the financier. ‘If you work with technology all day, it’s nice to be able to work with something tangible. Mekabe is a cool company in a nice sector with a lot of potential. We are going to learn a lot from that.’
The fact that Ingels can do this together with his friends Gert Bervoets and Tom Hochepied makes it extra fun. ‘Especially because our meetings always take place at the Italian’s, with a good glass of wine.’