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Bernard Proot
°1954
Trained as a baker, pastry chef and chocolatier at Ter Groene Poorte in Bruges
He gained his first experience in his parents' bakery in his native city of Ostend and further delved into pastry at Wittamer in Brussels and Lenôtre in Paris.
Together with his wife Anne , he took over DelRey in 1983. He always felt good in Antwerp: “Just as the view of the Mercator makes me feel at home in Ostend, I have the same feeling when I drive through the Bolivar tunnel.”
As manager, he makes every final decision after consultation with the team. He still bakes and sculpts in the studio.
Anne Seutin
°1961
She learns all the tricks of the pastry trade from her husband Bernard.
Her parents are also entrepreneurs and in addition to a cosmetics store, they also had their own bakery in Heist-op-den-Berg where Bernard worked for a while and Anne and Bernard met.
After she took over with Bernard DelRey, the couple had four children : Stéphanie (°1982), Emilie (°1984), Jan (°1985) and Julie (°1987).Anne is responsible for the store, sales and the tearoom .
Jan Proot
°1985
He has been helping in the studio since he was 12 years old . If he got a bad report, he had to do the dishes.
Jan first followed a marketing course before Bernard allowed him to start as a pastry chef in 2008
at DelRey. In the meantime, he is also doing an internship and doing various things
work experiences with fellow pastry chefs. At DelReY he has the best teacher in Gunther Van Essche.
In 2018, Jan passed the Relais entrance test
Desserts International . This is a professional organization that unites the biggest names in pastry. About a hundred pastry chefs from 15 different nationalities together form the top in the world.
In 2023, Jan will take over operational management from his father, who will continue to have final responsibility for the family business.
Jan has been co-manager of DelReY since 2022.
Julie Proot
°1987
Just like her brother, she has been helping in the business since she was a child.
Julie would love to work at DelRey, but her parents first require her to obtain a diploma and gain work experience elsewhere.
In 2015, she was finally allowed to join the family business.
Julie is super complementary with her
brother, because she is interested in everything that concerns “the non-operational”. She maintains customer relations , is responsible for communications and marketing, among other things; monitors accounting, deliveries and personnel ; is
responsible for sales in Japan , the webshop
etc.
Julie has been co-manager of DelReY since 2022.
Gunther Van Essche
°1965
In 1995, Bernard decided that the bar could be raised even higher and wanted someone of high quality who could help him raise it. He chooses top pastry chef Gunther Van Essche. After winning almost every competition there is to win in Belgium, Gunther wins the biennial World Pastry Cup (Coupe du monde) in Lyon in 1995 for the first and only time in Belgian history, so to speak, the “pastry world cup”. This is the highest good you can achieve as a pastry chef.
Gunther joins the team and when Jan is allowed to join the business in 2008, he takes him under his wing to teach him all the tricks of the trade. Gunther creates beautiful creations and has been a great supporter since his arrival
sparring partner , first from Bernard, later also from Jan.
Our team
But above all, DelReY is teamwork . Without our 20-person team
we wouldn't be where we are today. And if that sounds cliché, it is
that just because it's true. Each of them has his or her talent and
expertise that we would like to fully express and develop at DelReY.
We are proud of each of them for wanting to be part of the
driving force behind our family brand.
Bernard and Anne are currently far from thinking about retirement . That seems like absolute hell to them, because they still enjoy their job too much. They both don't like to be on stage because it makes them uncomfortable, but they are proud . On what they do and how happy they make their customers.
It gives Anne immense pleasure to see customers return to the store . Bernard makes you happy with a tidy studio : “Only when everything is in order will I be satisfied.”
In the meantime, the sweet bug has also spread to the two youngest children: Jan and Julie . Fortunately for Anne: “I would hate it if our business fell into foreign hands. It's like my 5th child, I defend it just as fiercely. Then I would rather stop in beauty.”
But that is not the issue. Jan enjoys creating as much as his father and enjoys nothing more than making people happy with pastries and chocolate .
The great thing about a family business is that we work very closely and with a lot of love towards a common goal . This also puts us closer to our customer, so we try to solve every obstacle in a minimum of time. Everyone also gets along incredibly well and does everything they can to form a good team . But every now and then it dares to clatter. Especially between Bernard and daughter Julie. “We're a bit the same,” Bernard laughs. “We always say what we want to say and that sometimes causes noise.” But Julie does not completely agree with this: “We never argue, do we? We just talk loud.”
The team also senses that joviality . In the workplace, Bernard and Anne are addressed as Mr. and Mrs., but once outside everyone is called by their first name. “Just drop it, sir. I don't like drinking a pint with someone who says that to me,” Bernard winks.