How Lieven Vanlommel (Foodmaker) is cooking up the “green McDonald’s”

Foodmaker is growing so rapidly in supermarkets that production capacity can barely keep up. Still, founder and CEO Lieven Vanlommel now wants to focus primarily on launching an international restaurant chain. With investor Kharis Capital on board, he hopes to make his dream of Foodmaker becoming the “green McDonald’s” a reality.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

Lieven Vanlommel has little patience for entrepreneurs who, out of fear of failure, prefer not to try anything at all. In his recently published book No Filter , the founder of Foodmaker looks back on nearly thirty years of entrepreneurship, filled with bold decisions, financial risks, and unexpected twists. His most important lesson? He’ll share it exclusively at the RetailDetail Night on November 19.

For example, Foodmaker launched sports meals as early as 2011, but the concept didn’t catch on at first. Fifteen years later, according to Vanlommel, the company has sold two million of them. “If you say you’ll never do something again because it didn’t work once, then you can’t change anything.”

That conviction also forms the basis for the next phase of growth. Last year, Foodmaker brought on Kharis Capital—the investment group behind Burger King, Quick, and O’Tacos, among others—as a partner to help the company conquer the European restaurant market.

“They can do something I can’t”

Vanlommel doesn’t see any contradiction at all in a pioneer in healthy food teaming up with an investor who made his name with classic fast-food concepts. On the contrary: he considers it a logical step. The ambition remains to open at least 100 Foodmaker Cafés in Europe. The partnership is primarily intended to accelerate the search for suitable locations and franchisees.

“I want to become the ‘green McDonald’s.’ They all want to become McDonald’s with their concepts, too. So why not work together?” he reasons. “I currently have 26 restaurants in Europe, and it took me nearly twenty years to get there. They’ve opened 1,500. Clearly, they can do something I can’t do right now. You have to know what you’re good at and where you need help.”

Supermarkets grow faster than production

Although the restaurant ambitions are drawing attention, retail remains by far the most important growth driver for the time being. Foodmaker supplies fresh meals to, among others, Delhaize in Belgium, Jumbo in the Netherlands, and major supermarket chains in France (Monoprix), Germany (Rewe), and Austria (Billa).

And those operations are growing strongly, Vanlommel emphasizes. He cites growth figures of 40% in France, 40 to 50% in Germany, and even 298% in the Netherlands. Sales are also growing strongly in Belgium. The only bottleneck is production: “We’re now in a thousand supermarkets in Austria. I simply can’t produce any more than we do today.”

The manufacturer is therefore expanding its production facility in Westerlo. The company aims to double its capacity there. Until then, Foodmaker must be selective about new growth opportunities. “If I open ten cafés tomorrow, that means two thousand extra meals per day. For our production, that’s relatively small. But launching operations in a new country—we can’t just do that today.”

Sustainability doesn’t always have to turn a profit

Meanwhile, the entrepreneur is also investing in activities where the financial return is less obvious. Foodmaker operates its own organic farm, experiments with locally grown ingredients such as ginger, and markets Foodmaker merchandise that the company has manufactured in Portugal.

Vanlommel views these initiatives as an extension of his business philosophy. “If I want to support society with my own organic farm, then that’s okay if it costs money. I want to show that it’s possible to do things differently.”

The same applies to the collaboration with elite athletes. Foodmaker has been working for years with Tom Boonen and Vincent Kompany, among others. The latter, in particular, is now tasked with raising the brand’s profile in Germany. According to Vanlommel, this approach works better than traditional advertising.

“We’ve been helping Vincent and his organization, BX Brussels, since 2013 to give children from underprivileged backgrounds access to healthy food and sports. If he now helps us raise awareness of Foodmaker in Germany, that’s authentic.”

The first chapter has only just been written

Despite the growth, the new headquarters, and the international ambitions, Vanlommel by no means considers his life’s work to be complete. He explicitly refers to his book as the first chapter of his entrepreneurial story. “Everything I’ve ever dreamed of has already grown bigger than I ever imagined. But today we’re in six or seven countries, while Europe has more than thirty. There’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Still, the biggest challenge remains the same as it was with his first salad shop in Antwerp: convincing as many people as possible to eat healthier. Even Vanlommel doesn’t know whether Foodmaker will ultimately become Europe’s “green McDonald’s.” But he certainly doesn’t lack ambition. “It could go either way. Either we’ll turn it into a wonderful company, or it’ll go wrong. But if you don’t try, you’ll never know.”

Lieven Vanlommel will not only speak during the evening program of RetailDetail Night on November 19, but he’ll also literally give attendees a taste of his entrepreneurial spirit with a luxury menu created especially for the occasion. Every attendee will also receive a copy of his brand-new book, No Filter, to take home.