Dominique Persoone, the man who taught Belgians (and foreigners) to sniff chocolate. Persoone is never shy of a stunt, but today he can look back on a great course. He was born to be a chef, but fell in love with chocolate. A lady who has not let go of him since, and with success. Today, the Bruges chocolatier is trying to move stones in the great world river. Because every contribution helps. Meet Dominique Persoone: the chocolatier on a human mission!
In fact, he was born to be a chef. Trained at the Bruges institute Ter Groene Poorte, Persoone went out into the world. Through internships in various restaurants he came into contact with top chocolatiers such as Pierre Hermé and Pascal Brunstein. The love for chocolate was born. Because, says Persoone, it is such a beautiful product with which you can do so much.
Photo Credit: Tom Museeuw
Today the celebrated chocolatier can look back on a rich professional life: in 1992 he founded his first chocolate shop The Chocolate Line in Bruges. Later he added a shop on the Meir in Antwerp. Today Persoone employs about 40 people in production and sales. But he also started two humanitarian projects: a cocoa plantation in Mexico and a chocolate factory in Congo. Dominique also became a much sought-after TV personality with programmes on Njam TV and recently also on VIER. In the latter adventure, he will play the chef on duty on a sailing trip across the ocean with other BV’s. Exciting!
Dominique, who or what have you learned the most from?
Persoone: “That must surely be Ferran Adria (n.v.d. the chef of what was once the best restaurant in the world ‘El Bulli’). He is a very open-minded chef and has a totally different view of food. Great to work with!
Which achievement are you most proud of?
Persoone: “To build a chocolate factory in Virunga National Park, one of the most dangerous areas in Congo. To help the people there”. “Virunga is a wonderful project because with our chocolate factory we are helping to create local employment. We teach the locals how to process cocoa beans into chocolate. Not a penny of profit goes out of this factory or the region. And on top of that, with our project we try to contribute to the protection of the gorilla population”. “Every time I reach Virunga, I still get the goosebumps!”
What would you have done faster?
Persoone: “To have started my own cocoa plantation, and to be able to process bean to bar (N.v.d.r Bean to bar means trying to control the whole value chain so that there are no or few middlemen. With the advantage that the products can be better tracked and the profits stay with the people contributing to the value chain).
What is your big next goal business and/or personal?
Persoone: I wish I could make Virunga origins chocolate a bigger project worldwide.
Good luck Dominique with all this!
Practical:
The Chocolate Line Bruges: Simon Stevinplein 19, 8000 Bruges
The Chocolate Line Antwerp: Meir 50, 2000 Antwerp
Website: https://www.thechocolateline.be/nl/
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