Cook & Roll
Name:
Sector:
Legal form:
Country:
Website:
​
USP’s:
​
Interviewee:
Written by:
Founders:
Cook & Roll
Horeca
Limited Liability Company
Belgium
www.gunstnathalie.wix.com/cookandroll
Variety, quality, experience
Jochen Verbeke
Anthony De Clerck
Jochen Verbeke
Summary
Cook & Roll is a company that’s located in Oostende, it was founded by Jochen Verbeke, an experienced chef with a passion for original flavored hamburgers. The company differentiates itself from the competitors by introducing shocking, unordinary tastes in their hamburger assortment.
Background
Jochen Verbeke founded Cook & Roll in 2011. The name of the company, ‘Cook & Roll’ was chosen to refer to the agreeable and relaxed atmosphere of the restaurant. A couple of years ago, in 2014, the restaurant received tons of media attention because of a new product, Mr. Verbeke had launched. Cook& Roll namely was the first Belgian company to produce and serve bug burgers.
The creation of the burger initially started as joke. The owner of Cook & Roll commits himself to maintain variety in the range of products on the menu. The menu thus changes monthly and new special flavored burgers are added to the list. Examples of these burgers are the spaghetti-flavored burger, the beef stew flavored burger,… And after reading about the law adaptations concerning bugfood, the owner added the bug burger too. The owner of the company want to create a reaction at the side of the consumers. He wants to let them experience new unordinary tastes while keeping an open mind. The addition of the bug burger meant a huge growth in popularity for the restaurant.
Mission
The goal of Cook & Roll is to give the customer a satisfying experience in the restaurant while introducing them to unordinary tastes and products.
Vision
Unlike a lot of other hamburger restaurants, Jochen Verbeke doesn’t want his company to grow out to become too big. The entrepreneur likes to maintain his current positioning in the market while maintaining the variety in his hamburgers.
Values
Cook & Roll put its focus on customer service and the customer experience. The range of products that are included on the menu, aim to shock or surprise the customer. The entrepreneur wants to help the customer to try something unordinary and unusual while keeping an open mind.
Business Model
There are lots of different examples of hamburger restaurants, but none of the classic examples uses the remarkable ingredients Cook& Roll does. The introduction of the bug burger in 2014 meant a huge rise in publicity and brand awareness. The initial start of the company was financed by investing his own money and making use of bootstrapping to grow. The art of keeping your costs as low as possible. In order to maintain a competitive advantage and to remain noticeable on the market of hamburger restaurants, the owner decided that he should differentiate himself from competitors by adding burgers to the menu that have a shocking and special tastes. The company thus creates a remarkable customer experience by doing something unordinary with the products that are served.
The shocking aspect of the introduction of new special flavors keeps the cooking interesting for the chef. It’s also a drive to keep changing and adapting. This is the reason why the entrepreneur founded the company, he wanted to own his own restaurant. For the first two years of the company’s existence, Cook & Roll was searching its place in the restaurant market in Oostende, it was only after these two years the restaurant started innovating to enlarge their competitive advantage.
The consumers get more curious to explore new flavors. They want to keep an open mind and taste different hamburgers. Especially those with bugs because this means a challenge for the consumer. After eating a bug burger the customer always wants to share their experience with their friends and family by sharing pictures or postings on Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. Next to this, Mr. Verbeke doesn’t spent time nor money on making publicity. The Facebook page of the company has some followers but the entrepreneur isn’t actively present on the different social media tools. The company gained popularity thanks to the huge media attention it received after introducing the bug burger. To start up his restaurant, Mr. Verbeke didn’t consult specialized organizations to gain information. However, he did consult his own network and could rely on their experience and know-how.
Growth
The growth of the company accelerated extensively after the introduction of the bug burger. Since then the company has been growing and that’s not only noticeable by taking a look at the profit but also by observing the consumer. This observation shows us that the clients are more loyal and come back to be reintroduced to the concept of hamburgers.
Customers
Initially the founder thought that his clients would main consist out of young alternative people. The curiosity to explore and taste the different flavored burgers however is present in different segments of the population. The customers of Cook& Roll variate from young to old people.
Competition
Like previously stated, there a numerous examples of different hamburger restaurants that offer a wide range of different sorts of hamburgers. Popular examples are Ellis gourmet burgers, Paul’s Boutique,… None of these competitors however offer the exact same service as Cook& Roll. This company maintain its competitive advantage by changing the menu on a monthly basis. Then now burgers with unordinary flavours get added to the list of products to reach more clients and maintain loyal ones.
Conclusion
The biggest opportunity for Cook& Roll, next to maintaining the variety in his product range, may lay in the chance to introduce a food truck to attend more events or private parties. As pieces of advice the entrepreneur shared these following tips:
-
Manage your costs but maintain quality
-
Innovate and adapt to the market
-
Explore the market do your research
-
Keep an open mind
The biggest setbacks to start up the company was underestimating the paperwork that comes along with starting up an organization. Entrepreneurs have to learn how to manage the workload and sometimes need to rely on external sources to obtain information and help.
Posted on 26/05/2016