Retail
The pitch deck breakfast-food startup Belgian Boys used to raise $7 million in 9 months
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- Anouck Gotlib, 32, is the CEO of New York-based breakfast snack startup Belgian Boys.
- The company is backed by investors like Kind founder and billionaire Daniel Lubetzky.
- Here’s the pitch deck they used to raise $7 million during their recent seed funding round.
Greg Galel thought of the idea for his dessert company in college — whenever he flew home, his colleagues would ask him to bring back Belgian treats. So, with the help of his future wife Anouck Gotlib, he launched Belgian Boys, a breakfast snack company, in May 2014.
Today, Belgian Boys is stocked in major retailers like Whole Foods, Walmart, and Costco. The pair is now looking to use their recently acquired $7 million seed funding to expand to a new headquarters in New York, finance more innovative lines, and continue the company’s expansion into Canada.
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Galel and Gotlib worked full-time in the restaurant and fashion industries, respectively, while getting the Belgian Boys up and running. In the evenings and on weekends, Gotlib told Insider, they researched recipes for inspiration and searched for manufacturers. To drum up demand and find buyers, they’d knock on the doors of bodegas with samples of caramel-filled stroopwafels.
By January 2015, Galel and Gotlib had left their full-time jobs, and Belgian Boys quickly went on to expand its product line from stroopwafels to other Belgian essentials like crepes and pancakes. Galel focused on innovation and branding, while Gotlib ran the business. Their first hire was a former director of sales and marketing for a chocolate brand, who helped them create partnerships with brands such as JetBlue.
When they met retailers at trade shows and stores placed orders, Gotlib said she told them they needed to have a new position in the store. While American stores typically place breakfast items in the frozen food aisle, Gotlib said she asked for Belgian Boys products to be displayed in the dairy section and elsewhere around the store. After a customer sees Belgian Boys in the dairy, frozen, and cookie aisle and next to the register, the independent brand starts to feel familiar, Gotlib said. “We’ve accomplished multiple points of merchandise,” she added. “But the journey starts online when the consumer is looking for us or they’re getting ads online about our brand. It’s that circle we seek.”
This fresh take on product placement gave Belgian Boys’ sales a boost, Gotlib said. “The refrigerated category is where we’re having the most success and where we see the growth in the next three years,” she added.
In March 2021, Gotlib and Galel asked people in their network to be angel investors or introduce them to venture capitalists. As this was their first raise, they didn’t rush the process, Gotlib said, as it was important for them to find the right partners. But nine months later, they’d oversubscribed by $1 million, raising $7 million instead of the $6 million they’d originally sought, and also attracted Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of snack brand Kind, as an investor when an investor who Gotlib met connected her to his team.”To have Daniel as a mentor is amazing. This is a real ‘pinch me’ moment. I can’t believe this has happened,” Gotlib said.
From using premium ingredients to the light-hearted packaging, Belgium Boys aims to be a feel-good brand. “We’re not a better-for-you brand. We’re a happy brand,” Gotlib said. Here’s the pitch deck the couple used to raise their seed round.
Courtesy of the Belgian Boys.
Courtesy of the Belgian Boys
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Courtesy of the Belgian Boys
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