“More than a software to open the market’s eyes, we are launching an industrial movement”

INTERVIEW - A third of Belgian food consumption happens out-of-home. Billions of euros, thousands of players, and yet... a near-total fog. Gondola Foodservice wants to put an end to this “collective blindness.” We sat down with Amaury Marescaux, founder of the technology platform that “connects the market”.

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Don’t be fooled by his degree in civil engineering in Applied Mathematics (UCL, 2008) fool you. On paper, Amaury Marescaux could have spent his career locked in a consultancy ivory tower, letting data sleep in endless spreadsheets and modeling probabilities that no client truly knows how to mobilize. But for him, data only has value when it drives action, illuminates decisions, and reveals what the market had not yet disclosed.

Amaury is drawn to the real, the tangible, the field. That instinct led him to leave the comfort of pure equations for the arena of fast-moving consumer goods. From L’Oréal to Unilever, he didn’t just manage marketing and commercial teams internationally; he learned a lesson not taught at university: a perfect mathematical model that ignores the human element and the power of the collective is a zero-sum game.

After more than fifteen years in the FMCG ecosystem, the former European Head of Customer Strategy watched industry giants navigate by sight, making multi-million-euro decisions based on patchy information. That is where the ambition behind Gondola Foodservice took shape. The former multinational executive set himself a bold entrepreneurial challenge: to map a new continent of Belgian food consumption (out-of-home dining, better known as foodservice).

“I’m not here to sell software; I want to turn on the light in a room where everyone has been eating in the dark for 40 years,” says Amaury Marescaux with conviction. The mission of his technology platform? To reconcile engineering rigour with restaurateur instinct, to bring financial clarity to the art of hospitality, and to merge market intelligence with the logistical power of distributors. “Because knowing how to count is good. But knowing what counts is better.” Now we're talking.

Gondola Foodservice: You claim that a third of Belgian food is managed on instinct. Is the diagnosis really that serious?

Amaury Marescaux: Yes, it’s absurd. Food captures 120 euros out of the 390 euros that Belgians spend out-of-home. It is a gigantic market; we are talking about 55 billion euros. Yet, foodservice – this dining outside the home– remains a great mystery. It’s a bit like the fricadelle: everyone eats it, but no one really knows what’s inside.

How is such a blind spot possible?

Because it's a fragmented chaos. Take the perfect counter-example: grocery retail. It is centralized. A supermarket could tell you, down to the second, how many bottles of Spa or Chaudfontaine have been sold. They can even alert the manufacturer to avoid a stockout. By comparison, foodservice is the Wild West. No one really knows the size of the market, let alone what is being sold, establishment by establishment.

Because “eating out” isn't limited to restaurants and fast food…

Precisely. It’s not just 30,000 restaurants. It’s also gas stations, night shops, 2,000 nursing homes, hospitals, schools, leisure venues... It is a fabric of local SMEs, often lacking digitalization, with heterogeneous practices. No one knows the actual market size, much less what sells per establishment. Until now, the real problem wasn’t the lack of data, but the fact that we were OK with this ignorance.

And that’s where Gondola Foodservice comes in. But, concretely, is it just another management software?

In concrete terms, it is a technology platform that aggregates over 40 different sources: distributor sales, point-of-sale data, financial data, geolocation... all in strict compliance with GDPR, it should be noted. In three clicks on our application, you can see the size of your market, your position, and your opportunities. No single player could ever do this alone. Manufacturers, distributors, operators: each holds a piece of the puzzle. We assemble the pieces. It is software solution that offers a comprehensive perspective, opening the market's eyes, but above all, it is an industrial movement we are launching.

And what are these pieces exactly?

(Laughs) I can't reveal all my sources; for confidentiality reasons. But the insights we surface challenge many assumptions. Did you know that in restaurants, the Aperol Spritz now generates more value in euros than Jupiler? Or that the city of Aalst is the country's champion for beer consumption? Or that over 80% of Belgian foodservice revenue is still generated by traditional restaurants?

We also reveal stark financial truths: an establishment like the Le Rubens posts a profitability of 4 million euros, surpassing institutions like Le Vieux Saint Martin. Why? Clear concept, good location, top reviews. Without data, you don’t see these sector champions.

If this data exists, why hasn't anyone gathered it before?

Major players obviously have their own sales figures and statistics from consumer studies. The problem is that declared behaviour is not consumption. When you survey people, you measure what they think they do, not what they actually do. And without a global view of the market, you can very quickly draw the wrong conclusions.

If your brand drops 5%, you might be tempted to panic. But if, at the same time, the market drops 10%, you are actually gaining market share. Without context, numbers are misleading. And strategic decisions become hazardous.

Initiating an “industrial movement” means moving everyone forward together. Getting competitors to collaborate sounds like an obstacle course.

It’s obviously not spontaneous, especially in a market that has always operated in a blur. I see two main obstacles. First, there is the fear of transparency. We don't claim to have the answer to every question. Market intelligence, field experience, and customer knowledge remain irreplaceable. But Gondola Foodservice provides a common baseline, so players spend less time collecting and pasting data fragments, and more time creating value.

Let’s be clear: if in 2026 your added value is still consolidating bits of data in an AI-enhanced Excel sheet, it’s time to reinvent yourself. Gondola Foodservice is about anticipating disruption, not suffering from it.

And the second main obstacle?

The second big challenge is economic. Take the example of distributors, who transport products from manufacturers to outlets. They generate significant revenue by providing data to manufacturers. However, these are companies operating with tight margins. That revenue must be protected, and that’s one of Gondola Foodservice’s guarantees. Our strategy is certainly not to cannibalise our own sector. Our ambition is built on collective market intelligence, on coopetition. As the saying goes: “A rising tide lifts all boats.”