Wemmel (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In Wemmel, 6th-year students at the hotel school opened a bakery 3 afternoons a week, baking bread and pastries while learning shop management, customer service, and product handling.
As VRT News reported, a new bakery shop has opened at the Campus Hotel School in Zijp, Wemmel, in the province of Flemish Brabant, Belgium. The shop is run entirely by students from the school’s bakery and culinary programs on 3 afternoons a week. It runs inside the Norrland “learning restaurant” and is open to the public. They mentioned that residents can now buy fresh bread, cakes, pastries, and other homemade baked goods.
What bakery skills are 6th-year students learning at Wemmel campus hotel school?
Kristof Begyn, Technical Advisor at Campus Wemmel, said the bakery adds value to the students’ training.
“Our students learn to make bread and cakes here, but we do not have a place to sell them yet,”
he said. He mentioned that everything in the shop is made on-site and is fresh.
At Campus Wemmel, the bakery is an important part of the final exam for sixth-grade students. During their competency test, students will run the bakery completely on their own. They are responsible for all aspects of the business.
Kristof Begyn, Technical Advisor at Campus Wemmel, said students will handle many tasks. They will manage the bakery, find suppliers, calculate the cost price of products, and create the product range. They will also learn how to serve customers properly in Dutch.
The bakery department at Campus Wemmel has 46 students. Begyn said baking is a profession in high demand.
“It is a real shortage occupation,”
he explained. Companies and bakeries are ready to hire students as soon as they graduate.
Similar student-run bakery projects have taken place in Belgium. In April 2025, students from a bread and pastry program in Antwerp baked around 1,400 apple balls and sausage rolls for the Lost Monday celebration.
The event ran from 10 PM to 6 AM and aimed to show the students’ baking skills and connect them with local traditions. Most of the baked goods were given to staff in the Antwerp municipal education system. Many students, including those from Brussels, experienced the Lost Monday tradition for the first time.
