Our masterclasses instructors include top luxury chocolatiers renowned for their outstanding expertise and passion for creating chocolate in some of the most innovative, influential, and prestigious Maisons in Belgium.
Our masterclass instructors are industry professionals who work in their area of expertise on a daily base and are excited to share their knowledge with chocolate passionates from around the world.
Expert in the fields of cocoa farming (worked in cocoa farm in Cameroon)and traditional fermentation(palm wine confection, Manioc fermentation in Cameroon)
• Food technology engineering – Gembloux Agro-BioTec University of Liège
• Entrepreneurship Management - University of Liège
• Master in Management – HEC Liège
• Aroma extraction : coffee - Belgium, vanilla - Mauritius
• Essential oil extraction: Ylang-ylang, vetiver, … – R. D. Congo
• Microbiology,Yeast fermentation – University of Liège, Puratos
• R&D management – Puratos
• Business development of Bakery ingredients, sustainable cacao/chocolate – Puratos
• 17 years experience in the chocolate industry (Mars& Godiva)
• Leadership at Godiva including: Marketing and Merchandising Director for Europe, International Innovation Director (product and packaging),Global Marketing and Public Relations Director
• Consultant for a Bean 2 Bar, an Icelandic company and various chocolatier in Belgium
• Strong Retail and global distribution experience with 14 years of experience at Levi’s Europe
• Winner of the 2013 Belgian Business Manager Trends Woman award
• Frequent features speaker at chocolate & packaging forums/conferences
• Always ahead of the new chocolate packaging trends and needs
• Diploma of journalist and worked for RTL for 7 years
• Director of Brussels choco story museum since 2007
• Granddaughter of Pierre Draps, founder and Chocolate creator of Godiva
• Creator of « la route belge du chocolat » and chocolate way
• Organizer of International Chocolate award
• International Product Manager Real Chocolate at Puratos NV
• Extensive chocolate experience in the sector, at Puratos and in B2C companies (Godiva)
• Expertise in NPD and innovation, international strategy, marketing & communication as well as retail
• Passionate about chocolate and its taste and she can share that passion during internal & external trainings on chocolate to sales and customers
• 12 years experience in a luxury and premium chocolate sector
• Retail Manager for Marcolini (own shop) and Godiva ( own shop & franchise) with a strong commercial and operational knowledge
• 5 years’ experience as Food Manager for Marks & Spencer
• Trained and sensitized to customer experience, operations excellence & people management
• Graduated in dietetics and passionate about cooking and chocolate
• Joelle opened a franchisee of Belmond ,épicerie fine in the trendy area of Brussels -close to place du Chatelain
International consultant for impact-driven projects, passionate trainer and space holder for transformation and collective intelligence
20 years in cacao and chocolate, from NGO to industry to entrepreneurship, seeking positive impact and heart wisdom.
Studied international commerce from ESCE ( FR) and leadership coaching from Novaterra (BE)
Project management: designing and management of corporate transformations projects
Sustainable cocoa sourcing: designing and implementation of long term sourcing & purchasing strategies combining quality,ethics and shared value in the supply chain
Taste: cocoa quality evaluations and chocolate product descriptions
Bean-to-bar: supporting entrepreneurs, from bean sourcing, to brand positioning and recipe creations
Cacao ritual: creating safe spaces for leaders and their teams, for more cohesion, better collaboration, improved creativity and memorable celebration
• R&D Manager, responsible for cocoa research and sensory analysis in the Chocolate department of Puratos
• Bioengineer master from UCL (BE) and an MBA from Instituto de Empresa (IE, Spain)
• More than 12 year in the chocolate sector, both in consumer products (NewTree, Godiva)& in B2B
• Taste is a private passion as well, taking him all around the world to discover new cuisines, and at home with wine tasting
• 15 years practice in both niche and mass market chocolate industry
• Extensive expertise in retail, operations and people management
• Independent producer of fair and organic chocolate from bean to finished product : “La Maison du Cacao”
• Qualified in business development of chocolate brands, export and retailing infrastructure
Graduated from the Bakery School in Bruges and as Food Scientist from GroepT in Leuven
Various positions for Puratos since 1995, he gained much experience on enzymes, emulsifiers and industrial baking processes by working with industrial customers
Developper of Puratos’ sourdough business mainly in the USA, Canada and Mexico since 2007
Manager of global business development for the Belcolade and Chocolanté brand
• +10 years of experience in the food industry working for brands like Lipton Ice Tea, Godiva Chocolate and Stella Artois.
• Has traveled the world to develop and implemented packaging on production lines in China, Thailand, Colombia and Europe.
• Winner of the Pepsi Lipton “Innovation of the Year 2014” & the Gold Pentawards for the Sirena Bottle" in 2014
• Winner of the "PepsiCo Global Packaging awards" in 2015
•Jury of Packaging engineering Masters & Tutor of Packaging Engineers students of the European School of Packaging ESEPAC.
Technical expert
• Bio ingenieur (ULB) with a speciality in chemical and bio-industries
• R&D manager at Puratos for 4 years in R&D chocolate
• Development of customized recipes in line with specific request and market needs
•Translation of recipe to the production unit
• Support production
Mathieu Bours works as a Conselor in environment and negociator at Cercle du Cacao.
Graduated in Business Engineering at Louvain School of Management (UCL) in 2013 and in Environmental Sciences and Management in 2016,
Mathieu Bours also acquired highly valuable skills during his numerous travels where he encountered cocoa farmers, enabling him to tackle cocoa issues with a transversal and crosscutting view.