Benoît Leplae and Jérémy Vandyck (Ekillibre): "What is more important than the nutrition of our future generations?"

INTERVIEW – While multinationals "fatten themselves up by force-feeding our children junk food," some refuse to wait for the State to react. Benoît Leplae and Jérémy Vandyck denounce the hypocrisy of public procurement and the scandal of government budget cuts. Through Ekillibre, these committed entrepreneurs are leading a showdown against short-term profit, imposing equity, local sourcing, and health as true indicators of prosperity.

Jérémy Vandyck, head of catering and supply at Ekillibre and founder of Infinity Food, together with Benoît Leplae, founder of Ekillibre. © Ysaline Gillart

Never. Benoît Leplae never mentions KPIs to his team. "I was disgusted by them while working in the private sector," confesses this commercial engineer by training. He then acknowledges that the people accompanying him in the Ekillibre adventure demonstrate such commitment that he does not need to pressure them with that kind of metric. On the other hand, one figure has personally marked him: 45. This is the number of new establishments that his platform brought on board during the last back-to-school season –alongside fifteen new partner caterers. Benoît thinks of his daughters, who are lucky enough to benefit from balanced meals, and then says to himself, dreamily, that the young company he created allows eight thousand children like them to eat well at school.

For his part, Jérémy Vandyck shares a sincere amazement. This chef, who specialized in operational management in collective catering, has been working at Ekillibre for over a year. Alongside his duties as director of product development and catering expert, he developed Infinity Food, a technical assistance structure. Suddenly, a "slightly crazy idea" sprouted: to launch a fair-trade purchasing center. "The speed at which the center found its audience surprised me," he admits. "We exceeded 6 million euros in consolidated purchases for 2026 in just a few months. This isn't a figure we planned on an Excel spreadsheet; it is the response from the field. The caterers were waiting for this."

Beyond the logistics and financial realities, the two partners vibrate with a communicative energy. These complicit entrepreneurs are pursuing a mission in service of children's nutrition. "It is a major public health issue and it is playing out now. Chronic diseases related to junk food will cost our healthcare system billions. Investing one or two more euros per meal today means saving dozens of euros in care tomorrow," insists Jérémy Vandyck, who denounces those "multinationals that knowingly fatten themselves up by force-feeding our children junk food." Without scruples but with a single objective, according to him: profit—to the detriment of the community that will pay the bill. "Ekillibre is not just a beautiful story of committed entrepreneurs. It is a necessity. And we decided to no longer wait for someone else to take care of it." A joint interview.

Gondola Foodservice: Going from 14 establishments to 230 partner schools in a few years is quite a meteoric growth. What was the main logistical challenge to maintain your promise of "healthy and local" at this scale?

Benoît Leplae (BL): It is very intense growth, but we were able to ensure it by always keeping the core vision in mind: serving as many children as possible healthy meals, prepared by local caterers.

Jérémy Vandyck (JV): Every week, we receive spontaneous requests from new schools wanting to join the movement. It's beautiful, and it's also our main challenge. The real obstacle has therefore always been, and remains, convincing the caterers. The school environment, honestly, is not the most financially attractive. When you go to see a caterer and suggest they cook for schools at those prices, the first reflex is suspicion. You have to sit down, explain, and show that the model holds up. I've had these conversations dozens of times. Every caterer who takes the plunge is a victory. We built this network one by one, and that is what makes it solid today.

Why launch this purchasing center now? Is it a direct request from partner caterers, or perhaps also a strategic desire to expand your impact?

JV: It's an observation we made together as a team while talking with our caterers. These people work hard; they make beautiful meals and they believe in it, but they are strangled by their purchasing costs. Very tight selling prices are imposed on us, and their margins do not keep up. At some point, you ask yourself: how do we keep them on board without asking them for even more effort? The answer was right there, in front of our eyes. We couldn't sell the meals for more. We couldn't compromise on quality. But we could seek better conditions at the source. It’s as simple as that.

Savings from the purchasing center can climb up to 30% on raw materials. Do only large purchase volumes allow for such rates without "bleeding" local producers dry? Has no one done this before you?

JV: Others have done it before us, but not in the same way. Large purchasing centers exist. What they do not do is redistribute. They negotiate huge volumes, squeeze local suppliers, and keep the margin for themselves. The member at the end of the chain sees very little.

What has always shocked me in this sector is this: people helping themselves along the way on the backs of those who produce and those who cook. For us, it’s the opposite. We take a caterer who makes 50 meals a day and give them access to the same conditions as a structure that makes 10,000, without anyone skimming off the top. It’s as simple and as radical as that.

Your model guarantees the same price for a small independent caterer as for a large structure. How does this principle of equity disrupt the usual codes of the sector?

JV: I like to say that we are reshuffling the cards, because that is exactly what it is. The sector was built on power dynamics. The big players have conditions that the small ones will never have, regardless of their talent or quality. A passionate caterer who makes 60 meals a day has no chance against a multinational that produces 15,000. We are changing that. What I like is that it pulls everyone upward: when a small caterer can finally offer a quality meal at a competitive price, the entire market is challenged. And a meal that a child eats with pleasure is worth much more than three euros.

Offering to advance the money for the purchase of goods is a strong gesture. What is your financial risk management model to support your members' margins in this way?

BL: It is a strong gesture, and not without risk. In the hospitality sector (Horeca), and beyond, cash flow is the main cause of bankruptcy. It is therefore the most powerful lever through which we can help our partner caterers. It took me five years to build up Ekillibre's cash flow, without a single initial euro. We have obviously put safeguards in place, and a monthly follow-up is carried out so as not to jeopardize what we have built.

JV: And you have to understand why it’s so important. When a caterer grows with us, their raw material purchases increase. Suppliers are increasingly cautious about payment terms, and a small caterer alone does not have the status to negotiate these terms. Ekillibre does. So, we play this role of a buffer. Specifically, we advance the payment of supplier invoices, with monthly reimbursement. It is an optional service at 350 euros per month – paltry compared to the savings achieved. Obviously, it’s not done blindly: we know these caterers; we work with them every day. It’s not credit granted to strangers; it’s trust earned over time.

What specific role does Infinity Food play in this technical support?

JV: My role is to find the best suppliers, negotiate terms, and ensure that every member of the purchasing center truly gets the best out of it. Concretely, I spend a lot of time in the field meeting producers, understanding what they can offer, and building relationships of trust. Orders are then placed directly between the caterer and the supplier. We do not get in the middle of that; it would add unnecessary complexity. What we provide is access and support. That’s why Ekillibre and Infinity Food teamed up: each does what they truly know how to do.

About thirty agri-food players have already joined you. What are your selection criteria to ensure that these products respect "the Ekillibre DNA"?

JV: I do not list a supplier just because they sent me a nice brochure. I go to see them. I understand how they work, where what they produce comes from, and if they can hold their commitments over time. The Infinity Food catalog is broader than just school meals. Our members have other activities and other needs. But on the Ekillibre side, we clearly define what can go onto the children's plates. That is our red line. The caterer remains free for the rest of their activity. It is their profession; they do it in good conscience. We trust them.

By expanding your activity to public entities – including hospitals, CPAS (Public Social Action Centers), and nursing homes – you are entering a highly regulated sector. How do you adapt your offer to the specific nutritional and budgetary constraints of these institutions?

JV: We do not come in as lecturers. These institutions have dietitians and kitchen managers who know their jobs better than we do. It’s not our role to explain standards to them. What we bring them is simple: any structure that cooks can benefit from our rates. What strikes me when I meet these professionals is their frustration. They know exactly what they would like to put on the plate, but they are often held captive by multinationals that sell them compliance as an argument and take advantage of it to impose their products, to the detriment of real quality. We open a door for them, and generally, they walk through it with relief.

You present yourself as the "guardian of quality on the plate." Specifically, how is the control of origin and freshness of products carried out within the purchasing center?

JV: The first line of defense is selection. I do not list anyone I haven't met or whose way of working I haven't understood. The second is our caterers themselves. There is no logistical hub: each caterer receives their goods directly. And our caterers are professionals: if a product is not compliant upon receipt, they refuse it. This vigilance network is human, and that is why it is solid. When we tell a school that we serve quality, we can now prove it in black and white.

Is it really possible to make a healthy meal cheaper than an industrial meal through the power of shared logistics alone?

JV: We will never be the cheapest on the market, and that is not our ambition. It is logical that every player in the chain is properly remunerated. But we are getting very close to the cost of an industrial meal, and above all, we are changing the comparison. The industrial meal hides costs that no one accounts for: chronic diseases, health impacts, and social costs twenty years from now. And then there is the argument that I rarely hear but which is nevertheless obvious: a tasteless meal that the child doesn't touch is a total loss. Parents know it. The child comes home, they haven't eaten, and you have to compensate in the evening. The 3-euro meal didn't cost less; it just cost elsewhere.

You denounce the "harsh law" of public procurement that prioritizes price over quality. How can Ekillibre concretely help institution directors structure their specifications so that nutritional value becomes a selection criterion as powerful as financial cost?

BL: With our sales team led by Philippe, we work upstream of the development of specifications to raise awareness among contracting authorities about our mission. It’s actually quite simple: either the players are aware of the stakes for children’s health, and price is then no longer the only criterion; or we are facing a mentality that only promotes money, and we very much prefer not to work with those players, to the great misfortune of the children and their parents.

The current community budget of the FWB (Wallonia-Brussels Federation) jeopardizes the meals of 55,000 students living in precarious conditions, with a subsidy of just a few dozen cents now. Can your model serve as a "financial shield" capable of maintaining a quality service even if public support melts away?

BL: Honestly, it’s a real scandal. The message being sent is horrible. What is more important than the nutrition of our future generations? We will obviously continue to serve these schools, but we are under no illusions: orders will drop because parents cannot afford it. Unfortunately, children will eat poorly, or even not at all for some. That is the reality on the ground.

JV: We can absorb part of the shock by reducing the cost of raw materials; we give managers real room to maneuver. And there are simple levers that we don't exploit enough: is a dessert every day really essential? Those few dozen cents could be put back into the quality of the main course. What also inspires me is the French model: the price of the meal is adjusted according to the parents' income, like a daycare. In Belgium, a child whose parents earn well and a child in a precarious situation pay the same rate. It is a principle of collective equity that really deserves to exist here.

Finland and Scotland invest up to €7 per meal. While waiting for such political will in Belgium (one can dream), do you consider Ekillibre to be the indispensable alternative: a private and logistical solution to compensate for the lack of public investment in our children's health?

BL: Having done my Erasmus in Finland, I know that model very well, and it is exceptional. I do not understand why Belgium never takes inspiration from the best in the class. Free meals, different teaching, best European results—what more proof do you need that it works? Yes, I think so, and I am not afraid to say it: today, without disparaging the competition, Ekillibre is the only model that combines healthy eating and local job creation. But we are one of the solutions, not the only solution. Our ambition is not to replace the State; it is to prove to it that it is possible.

Currently present in Wallonia and Brussels, do you plan an expansion to Flanders or neighboring countries in the short term?

BL: We are currently and discreetly developing the model in certain countries without a language barrier. I obviously dream of one day trying the adventure in Flanders. I am just waiting to meet the Flemish "Benoît" who can play my role in that part of the country. This is consistent with our DNA: you cannot land in a market with a different culture thinking you can reproduce identically what we do in Wallonia.

JV: And honestly, we still have a huge task ahead of us here in Wallonia. Every week, new schools contact us, caterers we haven't yet convinced follow up with us, and suppliers we haven't yet met knock on our door. Wallonia and Brussels are far from saturated. This is where the priority lies.

After delivery logistics and the purchasing center, what will be the next step for Ekillibre?

BL: The basic desire is and remains to serve ever more healthy meals to children. We continue to diversify: we are serving more and more daycares, CPAS, and holiday camps during school breaks. We are also quietly developing the model in other countries.

JV: On my side, what keeps me very busy is the support for new caterers. We sometimes work with professionals who have never set foot in the school world, and it is not the same job. The rhythms, the requirements, the expectations of schools and parents... that has to be learned. My job is also to help them take this step without failing. The better we are at this, the more new partners we can welcome, and the more children eat better. It’s as simple as that.