‘I dream of opening a new location every year’

By: TOM MICHIELSEN April 2, 2021 07:00 For De Tijd

In the midst of corona times and lockdowns, Jan Kegels is expanding the hospitality, catering and retail concept ‘Jean sur Mer’ around fish. In December, he opened the fish bar Harbour Café on Antwerp’s Groenplaats and in March, The Shop opened.

From an early age, Jan Kegels (42) has been passionate about everything related to the sea and fish. ‘As a child, I would walk for hours on the beach with my shrimp net at the ready. Later I went sport fishing. I have also often sailed with fishing boats on the North Sea.’

After his marketing studies and several years in car and insurance sales, the Antwerp native decided to turn his passion into a business. A five-minute brainstorm with his sister produced the name ‘Jean sur Mer’, while the basic concept – making fish as food hip again – came from Kegels himself.

Because he was only 32 and didn’t have big budgets, he bought a 1974 caravan and converted it into a mobile kitchen. ‘From there I sold my own premium fish products and street food: shrimp croquettes, battered fish, fish and chips, fruits de mer. It was hard work, but I chose my own route and schedule every day.’

In less than ten years, two more food trucks were added. A brand was born. Kegels also started selling his products to shops and hospitality establishments.

The corona crisis was no reason to sit idle. Kegels decided to use his food trucks in a drive-in for picking up his products, in a parking lot of a friend’s restaurant. ‘In the first four months, a thousand cars passed through and it’s still doing well today,’ he says. But to compensate for the loss in turnover, he started selling dishes from a ‘dark kitchen’ (a kitchen without dining room) via Uber Eats and Takeaway.com. These were co-developed by young chef Peter Vlyminck who had joined the business two years earlier.

‘The delivery concept was our market research in practice. We could experiment with dishes and sense where the demand was. That strengthened us to take the next step.’

Read the full article by TOM MICHIELSEN on De Tijd

The essence

• Jan Kegels started selling fish dishes as Jean sur Mer in an old caravan ten years ago.
• Later, two more food trucks were added and sales to shops and hospitality establishments.
• During the corona crisis, he successfully started a drive-in and home deliveries.
• In the past year, two new businesses have been added: Jean sur Mer The Harbour Café (a cross between a restaurant and a fish shop) and Jean sur Mer The Shop (a cross between a fish shop and a trendy fish bar).

Visit the website of Jean Sur Mer

Source: De Tijd