The story of the project

The genesis

As the announcement of the restaurant closures came down, a team of student entrepreneurs from UCLouvain got to work to help restaurant owners. They launched the "Help for Restaurateurs #Covid19" initiative as a Facebook group that now has over 52,000 members and has helped over 500 restaurateurs or wholesalers.

But they did not want to stop there. They understood that there was a citizen will to help small Belgian companies and to change the way of consuming, in particular by turning to local products. 

The project

This is how the idea of "La Vitrine Locale" was born in the mind of Pierre Peckel, a 25 year old student at UCLouvain and passionate about entrepreneurship. 

After a few days of research, he launched "La Vitrine Locale", a local e-commerce site that offers articles from Belgian producers and craftsmen. He mainly wanted to help small structures that don't always have the means to digitalize their activities. 

Gourmetboxes

For two years, La Vitrine Locale has been running at full speed thanks to the popularity of its 100% Belgian Aperitif Packs. A real success, especially for corporate teambuildings during the health crisis! 🍻 ​

But once that period was over, it was time to reinvent ourselves. That's when a new opportunity arose: a company contacted us to offer original gifts to its employees. A request that inspired us... and gave birth to the Boxes Gourmandes you know today. 🎁​

From long-distance conviviality to corporate gifts, La Vitrine Locale continues to support the local economy with authentic Belgian products, always with the same passion and desire to innovate.