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The face behind By Doucet

Het gezicht achter By Doucet

What do you do when life turns out differently and your newly founded catering business doesn't get off the ground because of the corona crisis? Then you make a pivot. In this interview, Kjell Doucet shares how By Doucet came to be, what makes the 3 different granolas so delicious and unique, and... What you can email him for.

How did the idea for By Doucet come about?

This whole concept came about last year. At that time, I had just started my own catering company. But unfortunately, due to the corona crisis, it was never fully launched. All events were cancelled, the catering industry had to close down and the whole country had to go into lockdown. This, of course, is not very convenient for a starting caterer, so I had to think of something else.

From my childhood, I was taught a healthy lifestyle. In our family, it was a must to get enough exercise and eat healthy. Thanks to my parents, I have maintained this lifestyle to this day. I love running, my favourite hobby is swimming and I regularly go mountain biking with my dad.

So my girlfriend (Diana) and I started making our own granola. I bought all the ingredients and on the weekends we were baking granola together. When she came up with the idea that I could also sell granola with my catering company, we were both immediately excited.

What makes By Doucet so unique?

Our granola is not just any granola you can buy in the shops. We find quality and nutritional value very important. That is why we use quinoa and buckwheat in our granola. The puffed quinoa provides a light taste and a good portion of protein and the buckwheat gives the body an extra portion of fibre. These two ingredients can be found in all three flavours. They are also the basis of all 3 granolas.

What also makes By Doucet unique is our personal touch. We deliver the granola personally to the customer (if possible). We also think it is very important that you can taste what is in the granola. For example, our Buenas Nuts. The name says it all: "nuts", so there must be a lot of nuts in it. Berry licious is all about berries and Choco Loco is all about (healthy) chocolate.

What is your favourite granola; Buenas Nuts, Berry licious or Choco Loco? And why is this your favourite?

My personal favourite is the Buenas Nuts. Just for the simple reason that I love eating nuts. They also provide a nice texture and crunch in the granola which I love. And also because nuts are super healthy (in moderation of course). Nuts contain a lot of healthy fats that the body needs. Fats in food often scare people away but the fats in natural products such as salmon, avocados and nuts are necessary. That is why all our granolas contain plenty of nuts.

Can you tell us something about the baking process?

Our granola is completely hand baked. We always make sure that the granola is as fresh as possible. It is therefore freshly baked every week. First we prepare the whole composition and then we spread it out over the whole baking sheet. All this is then baked at a low temperature so that the granola can become nice and crispy. Because it is baked plate by plate and not in a conveyor belt oven like in big factories, every bite is special.

What makes the By Doucet granola so healthy?

Granola is generally super healthy if you don't add too much sweetener or sugar of course. We think it is important that granola is extra healthy. We do this by adding enough seeds and pits for an extra portion of protein. We have also chosen to add buckwheat and quinoa to the granola. Buckwheat for its richness in fibre and quinoa for the extra protein. And finally, we have puffed rice in the granola for a nice lightness. We believe this makes the complete picture for a perfect and easy breakfast.

What are your dreams, goals and wishes for By Doucet?

My dream is to bring different kinds of products to the market in the future that are high quality, with a different twist, and good for the body. I would love to grow the business to a certain point where we have the opportunities to be even more environmentally conscious and to make a real difference. We want to aim for sustainable packaging, ecological transport and as many local and natural ingredients as possible. Ideally, I would like to do this with a team of young, passionate people who all share the same vision.

Are there any collaborations you are open to?

We are open to all kinds of collaborations (so feel free to mail us!). In the future, we would also like to work together with different people who have the same vision, in terms of sustainability, ecological and also organic. We do not only want to sell our products but also have a positive impact on the planet. So companies or people with great ideas who want to start a project are in the right place. We have also recently started an affiliate programme for people who support our product and would like to earn some money from it. We believe this is the future.

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