Tero Group was born from the merger of 3 companies, which shared the same objective: provide unforgettable experiences in order to bring people together. Knokke Out manages hospitality and event venues around Belgium and Luxembourg, People First organizes team building activities and corporate events, and Tero brings together the restaurants, farms and food production. From the 3 companies, Tero was the one that brought the vision of a responsible and sustainable business model. So the decision of keeping the name Tero for the whole group was linked to the idea of bringing the ‘Tero’ culture of sustainability and impact to the rest of the company activities.
The word Tero, as described in the company’s commitments, means ‘soil or earth’ in Esperanto, and the French term ‘terreau’ sounds exactly like Tero. So the concept brings together the idea of having a social and environmental responsibility, while having a positive impact on earth and nature.
Since the merger of Tero, People First, and Knokke Out, Tero Group decided to operate under an Impact Strategy, which is a continuous process to mitigate/reduce the company’s negative impact and maximize its positive impact on the environment and society, considering a perspective of sustainability in all the projects. Farm to Fork is an essential part of this initiative: it all starts at Teroir, a group of sustainable food projects (three farms and two butcheries), where we cultivate organic vegetables and raise our own livestock in natural surroundings, which all end up as one of our main source of food in Tero restaurants and catering service.
Tero Farms and Restaurants
The Farm to Fork process starts at the 3 Teroir farms Tero with which Tero collaborates in Rochefort: Rabanisse farm, Magerotte Farm, and Rametenne farm. The production in the 3 farms is complementary, and includes of course a wide variety of natural and organic vegetables, together with Parthenaise cattle, fed exclusively on grass, Duroc pigs, laying hens and beehives.Â
The production is destined to source Tero’s 4 restaurants: Tero Brussels, Bistro Pilko Waterloo, Bistro Pilko Garisart and Bistro17 in Luxembourg. And besides sourcing the restaurants, the production is also used for Tero’s centralized food production for the catering service (Tero Traiteur), which is offered in the company’s venues and events.
Our farm ensures 100% of the pork supply and 20% of the fruit and vegetable supply for the restaurant in Brussels (Tero Brussels). The Peuplier Farm, also Belgian and organic, provides 35% of our fruits and vegetables. The rest is supplied by Restofrais, a high-quality Belgian family business. This organization guarantees the origin, freshness, and flavor of the ingredients used in the dishes offered.Â
For the restaurants in Waterloo and Luxembourg, the objective remains exactly the same: we source as much as possible from our own farms. The rest of the supplies come from our selected partners who meet the criteria imposed by Tero. We are not yet at the same proportions, but we are working on an ecological purchasing policy focused on food and beverage to achieve the same objectives and gradually overcome operational challenges.
As an integration with other services provided by Tero Family, at Tero Brussels you can combine your business event with a delicious meal. There’s a seminar room with all the infrastructure for a business meeting, conference or seminar, with the added value of offering healthy, simple and gourmet food to all participants. And as we like to be a ground up company (understand one-stop-shop for our customers, we can even organize a team building activity for your group!
Opportunities and challenges for Tero’s Farms and Restaurants
All the work around the farms and restaurants is part of a continuous transformation process, which is the core of Tero’s Impact Strategy, in which there’s always room for improvement. The motto is to try to do better tomorrow than today.Â
Some of the main challenges around the Farm to Fork initiative are around the pricing and logistics. Producing under organic standards and at a lower scale makes it difficult to compete with big distributors of organic products, while keeping a competitive price. So to make sure our way of working is valued, we like to show how we produce our fresh, healthy and tasty ingredients that end up in the plates and tables.
In order to achieve this, we are developing an educational project that will transform the farms into didactical centers, where we want to show the organic and sustainable production methods, and help value them. The mission is to share the knowledge and good production practices to kids, schools, and through B2B team-building with all the community.
Looking into the future, Tero is also developing Teroir.be as the Group’s agricultural partner for the direct commercialization of farm products. This includes Magerotte butchery, the building of a local brewery and the production of honey, beeswax and other beehive products.
Farm to Fork as Tero’s DNA
The Farm to Fork philosophy, and everything surrounding the farms, food production, and restaurants, are the flagships of Tero values. They might not be the most profitable business unit of the Group, but they were the seed of the Impact Strategy under which the whole company works now. That’s why Arthur, who was the founder of Tero Restaurants and the Rabanisse farm (the first one to operate), became Tero’s Impact Chief Officer.
In this sense, it’s important for us to keep the innovative spirit, while being loyal to Tero’s DNA, and what brought us here. 10 years ago, when the first restaurant opened in 2014, it was a pioneer in putting the focus on the quality of the food and the care in the selection and production of ingredients. Over the years, this approach became more and more popular in new places, so it’s a challenge for Tero restaurants to find new ways of offering something new and unique to its customers.Â
Nowadays, some of the attributes that are most valued by the customers are the options for vegan and gluten free dishes, and the renovation of the menu 4 times a year, taking advantage of the vegetables that grow every different season in our farms. And besides the guarantee of having a healthy and quality meal, Tero restaurants stand out for their cozy, quiet, and feel-at-home atmosphere.
In conclusion, Tero Group’s commitment to sustainability is well represented by its Farm to Fork initiative, which can be considered as the cornerstone of the organization’s Impact Strategy. It brings together all the care and knowledge put in the organic production in the farms, that through short supply chains then become the fresh and tasty ingredients offered to customers at each of our Restaurant tables.
