Fueling Families, Driving Growth: The Recipe Behind the #1 Brand on Instacart | Category Disruptors - Anouck Gotlib of Belgian Boys - Episode 397

Ecommerce Braintrust

🎙️Interview with Anouck Gotlib of Belgian Boys

The Category Disruptors Series continues!

We’re excited to share Part 2 in our series spotlighting the female CEOs and founders behind some of the fastest-growing and most innovative brands in their categories.

This episode features Anouck Gotlib, co-founder and CEO of Belgian Boys—the company behind the high-quality, ready-to-eat Belgian waffles, pancakes, and crêpes we all know and love.

Belgian Boys was recently named Instacart’s #1 Fastest-Growing Emerging Brand in 2024, a reflection of its strong momentum and growing presence in the market.

Don’t miss the full story—it’s another great one in the series.

"Beyond the ingredients or the packaging that evokes emotion, we found our success in solving a real problem. I'm a mom of now three kids, I get it, those mornings are stressful.”

Anouck Gotlib

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Anouck, Julie, and Jordan discuss:

• Brand Origin Story: How Anouck’s background in fashion design and her husband Greg’s experiences as Belgian expats inspired the founding of Belgian Boys and the mission to "spark a moment of joy" through food.

• Values & Family Influence: The importance of joy, warmth, and food in their families and how those values shaped both their business and personal lives.

• Navigating Partnership: Insights on co-founding and running a business with a life partner, including the keys to aligning on big-picture goals, embracing trust, role evolution, and supporting each other's strengths.

• Product and Retail Strategy: The decision to focus on breakfast products, the innovation of introducing refrigerated breakfast to the US market, and the challenges of discontinuing products to build a more focused core lineup.

• Female-Led Culture: Evolution of Belgian Boys into a female-focused brand and workplace, with women-led initiatives, a majority-female board, and organic team dynamics.

• Adaptation & Growth: Pivoting quickly during the pandemic, lessons learned from ecommerce expansion, and leveraging platforms like Instacart for online growth.

• Personal & Team Growth: Anouck’s journey of building CEO confidence without a traditional business background, the power of coaching, prioritizing strengths over weaknesses, and assembling a dynamic, diverse team.

Looking Ahead: Sneak peeks into innovation in breakfast products, partnerships (including with Costco), a back-to-school focus, and what’s coming next for Belgian Boys.