4 trends for a crackling Colruyt barbecue

With the sun coming out, we long for the first delicious barbecue smells. Opting for convenience or going all out? At Colruyt Lowest Prices you will find everything you need for a barbecue from A to Z. Besides an extensive offer, there are four food trends that characterise this barbecue season: effortless food, food connects, food for joy and roots foods. These go hand in hand with four characteristics of a typical Belgian barbecue: convenience, conviviality, and a combination of classic dishes with surprising, healthy flavour combinations.

Effortless food

Products that focus on ease and convenience save time and reduce cooking stress. For every dish, therefore, you can find a quick variant at Colruyt. Then you can order your favorite BBQ items online until midnight at Collect&Go and pick them up the day after at one of the 245 pickup points or have them delivered to your home.

For Belgians, a barbecue still involves meat. The cheaper meat - chicken and pork - is the favourite. This summer, we expect to sell 200,000 kg of ball brochettes, and these are also available in vegetarian variants. With the focus on convenience, there are new items in the pre-cooked range, such as chicken pillon tex-mex or pulled chicken. The Colruyt butchers prepare complete barbecue dishes as well as (vegetarian) side dishes such as patatas bravas, which can be eaten hot or cold. These can be supplemented with vegetable salads or a wide range of snack greens or sliced vegetables. 1 customer in 3 buys chopped lettuce or salad mixes between June and September. Due to their great success, the snack tomatoes are on sale in 1 kg boxes from this year. Do you like to give your dishes a personalised finish with fresh herbs? Then pick herbs are new at Colruyt Lowest Prices: produced in Belgium, organically grown and easy to keep in the fridge.

Thanks to a wide range of drinks, guests can easily quench their thirst according to their preferences. Yet Belgians like to stick to a classic glass of rosé or a fresh glass of beer. This year you will find the first white wine in pouch at Colruyt, which will soon be joined by the rosé variant. Mojito in pouch is also available. Party boxes of sangria come in red, white or rosé. And those who like to tap their own beer can do so with the 5-litre La Chouffe draught barrel.

Within the drinks range, the necessary attention is paid to conscious consumption and health, as these play an important role in many families. At Colruyt Lowest Prices, customers can find a wide range of alcohol-free alternatives of more than 120 products. These include some 40 alcohol-free beers, 20 wines, 13 different bubbles and more than 50 alcohol-free aperitifs and spirits.

The popularity of alcohol-free offerings continues to grow. Young people in particular are finding their way to it, eagerly opting for a mocktail. Last year, Sir James 101 mojito mocktail was the most popular in Colruyt's alcohol-free range. Alcohol-free beers do remain the undisputed number 1, with more than 1 in 2 Colruyt customers who put an alcohol-free item in their trolley choosing alcohol-free beer.

Food connects: ensemble autour de la table

Belgians prefer to spend their quality time as bourgondians. Cooking and eating together with family, friends and neighbours makes us happy. This also means that we prefer to keep that feeling going for as long as possible: a barbecue starts with preparing it together, accompanied by an aperitif.

To satisfy the first hunger, there are new Boni-dips with exotic flavours, such as a Thai coconut dip with chutney or a Mexican chili dip. All combinable with vegetables or tortilla chips, or as a sauce with meat or wraps. The Boni-labneh is available again: a thick yoghurt dip with mint, oregano, thyme and lemon. Delicious with pitta bread or flatbread, or with lamb.

Our favourite cracking classic is unmissable as an aperitif, and continues to vouch for easy happiness, with spicy chips a favourite. Did you know that a Colruyt customer buys an average of 2 bags of chips per shop visit? For those who like things a little more special, Kettle's premium potatoe chips can be found on the shelves.

No aperitif without bubbles, of course. Three varieties of Gran Barón ‘Le Med’ are new and only available at Colruyt. The basis for these cocktail drinks is the well-known Spanish sparkling wine, combined with the flavours of Bellini, Orange Spritz or Limoncello Spritz. An alcohol-free variant of each of these flavours is also available within the Colruyt range. And the kids can also sound off with the strawberry- or apple-flavoured Boni Bubbly Fiesta.

For young and old, Belgian brand Ritchie comes with two new flavours, blood orange and grapefruit. There are also two new ready-to-drink references from Gimber: Immunity and Energy Kick. Kombucha lovers can choose raspberry flavour, peach or lemon-ginger.

Food for joy

As rich as the ‘classic’ Colruyt range is, on the barbecue it can be a bit more: we like to learn about new, surprising flavour combinations. Belgians have an eye for health and price. More special marinades such as sweet spareribs or Mexican-style burgers are sure to please. Last year, the (farmer's) chipolata and the ball and turkey brochette were the top sellers for barbecue.

There are a lot of new sauces in the ‘food of the world’ range, with garlic and truffle being popular flavourings. Expected BBQ toppers with a twist are Hellmans’ truffle mayonnaise or Heinz curry mayonnaise, as are Devos Lemmens’ mayonnaises with harissa or sweet chili.

For those who love fish, there are scampi in all shapes and sizes and with all possible marinades, both fresh and frozen. At Colruyt Lowest Prices, these are all ASC-certified. Tuna steak and salmon are also quick to prepare and delicious for a barbecue.

That not everyone desires meat and fish can be seen in the Colruyt range. With some 100 vegetarian meat substitutes, there is something for everyone. With the introduction of the Colruyt Group brand Boni Plan't, a lot of plant-based items are quickly recognisable. Commonly bought items for the barbecue are the Boni Plan't-BBQ burger and bratwurst. Tofu remains the most popular veggie product. Boni Plan't is launching two new ones, Mediterranean tofu and barbecue-flavoured tofu.

Cheese, too, remains popular with an offer to die for: grill cheeses like halloumi or berloumi (the Belgian version with goat's milk) are not only popular with vegetarians. During the summer months last year, we grilled 50 tonnes of it, 20% more than the year before. Last summer, Belgians consumed almost 70 tonnes of burrata on top of that. Among mozzarellas, the Everyday mozzarella is the most popular.

Roots foods

The big advantage of a barbecue remains that everyone puts what they want on their plate. Guests want a variety of vegetables to go with it. This allows everyone, regardless of specific preferences, to choose food that suits their lifestyle. Pulses are also popular and on sale in pimped varieties, such as chickpeas in Mediterranean sauce.

In terms of vegetables, the classics remain popular. During the summer months last year, Colruyt customers bought 130 tonnes of sweet pointed peppers and as much as 1,500 tonnes of courgettes. On top of that, the vegetable brochette still has to be added. Iceberg lettuce remains the top seller, selling 1.5 million units. Delicious for grilling are also mushrooms. In 2024, 23 tonnes of portobello passed the Colruyt till: always a success with a variety of fillings. A lot of inspiration can be found on www.colruyt.be. The ingredients of a recipe can be added quickly to the Xtra application, or to the Collect&Go basket.

Whenever possible, Belgians like to eat local, and then at Colruyt, as the only Belgian retailer, they have come to the right place for a wide range of products from here. 100% of Colruyt beef, for example, comes from the Belgian white-blue. And despite the many alternatives to carbohydrates, the potato remains our favorite. Last summer we ate almost 800 tonnes of potatoes.

Organic and natural wines are also part of the range. The difference? Organic wines are certified and made from grapes grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers. Natural wines are usually made from organically or biodynamically grown grapes with minimal additives, both in the vineyard and during the production process..

To finish, grilled fruit is loved by young and old alike. Stone fruit, crownless pineapple, watermelon with feta, or rather papillote of red fruit with ice cream and mint? Then the Hoogstraten strawberries stand out. Colruyt is even working exclusively with Hoogstraten this year for its premium strawberries.