Wemmel – In Wemmel, 6th-year students at a hotel school have launched a bakery, operating three afternoons a week, where they bake bread and pastries while gaining experience in shop management, customer service, and product handling, reports 24brussels.
A new bakery shop has opened at the Campus Hotel School in Zijp, Wemmel, located in the Flemish Brabant province of Belgium. This student-run shop operates inside the Norrland “learning restaurant” and is open to the public, offering fresh bread, cakes, pastries, and other homemade baked goods.
What bakery skills are 6th-year students learning at Wemmel campus hotel school?
Kristof Begyn, Technical Advisor at Campus Wemmel, stated that the bakery enhances the students’ training.
“Our students learn to make bread and cakes here, but we do not have a place to sell them yet,”
he noted, emphasizing that everything sold in the shop is freshly made on-site.
The bakery forms a crucial part of the final examination for 6th-grade students, who will independently operate the bakery as part of their competency test, overseeing all business operations.
According to Begyn, students will undertake a variety of responsibilities, including managing the bakery, sourcing suppliers, calculating product costs, and designing the product range. They will also be trained in proper customer service in Dutch.
Currently, the bakery department at Campus Wemmel comprises 46 students. Begyn highlighted the strong demand for baking professionals.
“It is a real shortage occupation,”
he explained, noting that companies and bakeries are eager to employ graduates.
Similar student-operated bakery initiatives have emerged throughout Belgium. In April 2025, students from an Antwerp pastry program produced approximately 1,400 apple balls and sausage rolls to celebrate the Lost Monday event. The event lasted from 10 PM to 6 AM and aimed to showcase the students’ baking skills and connect them with local traditions. Most baked goods were distributed to staff within Antwerp’s municipal education system, with many students, including those from Brussels, experiencing the Lost Monday tradition for the first time.
