Peter Isaac (managing director of Jumbo Belgium): “We have found the right pace”

Jumbo has opened its new formula in Ghent: the Jumbo Foodmarkt. A larger supermarket, with more experience, more products and a foodcafé. For Peter Isaac, managing director of Jumbo Belgium, and Ton van Veen, CEO, this thirty-fifth Belgian store comes at the right time.

“Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, hurray!” More than a hundred visitors and curious people gathered on the Vliegtuiglaan in Ghent, one Wednesday morning in September, happily counting down the opening of the doors of the brand new Jumbo Foodmarkt. The loud applause from the audience is quickly drowned out by the decibels of the sound system of a DJ installed in a bus transformed into a mixing booth. An old man on a bicycle looks at the scene with a perplexed look. He doesn’t know that the opening of a Jumbo store is always a celebration. Little by little, visitors enter to discover the approximately 3,000 m² of the store. “A store with multiple food experiences”, as the sign describes it. There should indeed be something for all tastes: 24,000 references, much more than in a classic Jumbo, 2,400 fresh local products, meals – soups, quiches, pizzas and sushi prepared on site – and even a café where you can sustain oneself. A conveyor belt leads upstairs to the fresh market – vegetables, fruits and other products – which is bathed in an artisanal atmosphere. At the back, the Foodmarkt looks more like a classic supermarket, with refrigerated counters and pre-packaged food items.