Limburg (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Limburg caterers 2 Cooks (Genk), MAS, and Raoul Kroket (Bilzen-Hoeselt) prepare 3,000–5,000 festive meals, with managers Olaerts, Snellings, and Binens noting rising takeout demand and added flexi-staff.
As VRT News reported, Limburg caterers are busy as the holiday season approaches. In Genk, 2 Cooks usually prepare around 4,000 meals per week, but this week the number has risen to 5,000.
“The period between Christmas and New Year’s is therefore the most important time of the year, followed by Easter,”
says manager Geert Olaerts.
What are Limburg caterers doing to handle the holiday meal rush?
To handle the extra work, the company has added 5 interns and 4 flexi-workers. They help with cooking, packaging, and making sure every festive menu is ready on time. Owner Olaerts says more customers are looking for convenient meal options. Many now choose ready-made festive menus instead of cooking at home. To keep up, 2 Cooks has adjusted its kitchen operations and order management.
“For example, we sold significantly fewer gourmet dishes this year because they require baking,”
Owner Olaerts says.
“Customers prefer ready-made dishes. They just need to heat them up.”
Caterer MAS in Bilzen-Hoeselt is busy as the holiday season nears. The team of 30 staff members is preparing about 3,000 covers this week. Manager Maverick Snellings says more customers are choosing takeout.
“Vegetables are rarely left over anymore; these days it’s more likely to be meat that’s left over.”
Maverick Snellings
“There’s more and more takeout, partly because we’re growing as a business,”
Snellings says.
“It’s probably also because more and more restaurants are closed for Christmas and New Year’s because of the high prices.”
“We’re also seeing more vegetables being eaten. Where we used to always have surplus vegetables, now we often have meat left over, not vegetables. And that meat has to be of good quality for the customer.”
The caterer uses hot buffets in bain-marie dishes. 2 heat sources under the trays bring the food to the right temperature in about an hour. At Raoul Kroket, also in Bilzen-Hoeselt, the holiday rush is strong. An extra team of flexi-workers helps prepare 85 end-of-year menus on time.
“At Christmas, there were even more menus, 160 to be exact,”
says manager Raoul Binens.
“We were busy from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.”
Owner Binens notes that takeout orders are rising compared to previous years.
“They’re happy to spend the money they would otherwise spend at a restaurant with a caterer. And then there should be as little preparation work as possible,”
Binens confirms Olaerts statement
“We deliver our menus ready-made with a concise instruction sheet.”
The holiday surge experienced by the Catering industry of Belgium is common. Holiday increases for many Belgian Catering businesses occurred during the 2023 to 2024 holidays by offering ready-prepared meals and takeout as opposed to cooking at home.
Many Catering businesses and Supermarkets observed a significant increase in orders for the Christmas and New Year Holidays compared to previous years. An abundance of employees left their jobs within the Industry in late December 2024, resulting in the cancellation of special menus and/or a reduction in available services from various Catering Businesses.
