30 Branches by 2030: Colruyt Steps Up Expansion of Lunch Bar Chain Bon

The Halle-based retail group is shifting into high gear with its lunch bar chain, Bon. While the chain is not yet profitable, the group aims to change that by doubling the number of locations over the next four years.

Under the wing of the supermarket group Colruyt, Bon aims to accelerate its growth in the coming years. In four years' time, Bon wants to be twice as large as it is today – it currently has 16 branches – and expand into more cities. This was stated by CEO Frédéric Duqué and commercial director Bert Gillis in the newspaper De Tijd. The new branches are to be established near large office buildings and in locations with high commuter traffic, such as train stations. The chain is currently present in Brussels, Antwerp, Mons, and Liège. Colruyt Group is increasingly moving into city centers, where it previously had a much smaller presence. In recent years, this gap has made itself felt in competition with other supermarkets.

Lunch bar chain Bon, which primarily sells salads, sandwiches, and other lunch meals, works closely with Colruyt Group’s urban formats. Bon has already been selling its meals for two years at Okay City, the smaller urban version of Colruyt’s neighborhood supermarket Okay. For several months now, Bon has also been supplying meals to 50 of the 145 Okay stores. These are mainly locations in urban areas, but also in more rural regions here and there. This may be expanded to even more branches. Colruyt Group purchased 46% of the shares two years ago and became the majority shareholder with 55% last year. In 2024, Bon was still loss-making (€1.1 million on a turnover of €7.5 million), but it aims to break even next year. By 2030, when it expects to have 32 locations, it intends to be profitable.