A day in the life of Pierre De Greef
Photos Pauline Colleu
Words Matthieu Morge-Zucconi
Translated by Sébastien de Turenne
Share the article on
The entrepreneur talks running, vegan food and skin-fade.
It’s a sunny morning in Brussels and Pierre De Greef welcomes us to his spacious two-storey flat. The Belgian entrepreneur, who splits his time between his two restaurants and his digital communication agency sat down with us to talk fades, vegetarianism, and running.
Hello Pierre, could you introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Pierre De Greef, and I’m 32 years old. With a few friends, I opened two restaurants in Brussels, both called CHYL. I also started a digital communication agency two years ago. When I first opened my restaurants, I realised how important digital communication was. Strangely enough, there weren’t really any agencies catering to that need in Brussels back then. So, I launched an agency called WeShare. We work with a lot of hotels and restaurants, helping them define their digital presence.
What’s your background?
I initially studied fashion. Once I graduated, I worked for a ready-to-wear brand in Antwerp for several years, before managing the art direction for an e-commerce site that was subsequently acquired by French behemoth Vente-Privée. I was in charge of the brand’s image, photography, and social media. I’ve always been a jack-of-all-trades, I’ve changed my mind a lot, and I enjoy having my fingers in multiple pies. I met a friend who used to work with me and had since moved to the catering industry. During a trip to Berlin, I’d seen quite a few healthy and mostly vegetarian restaurants. We didn’t have these kinds of restaurants in Brussels, so I thought I’d give it a go.
What is CHYL, exactly?
The first CHYL is both a shop and a restaurant. The shop sells loose, unpackaged, organic food. We were the very first shop to do this in Brussels. Next to the shop we set up a restaurant offering healthy but gourmet meals, with an emphasis on vegetarian dishes. We focus on the visual aspect of things, from the restaurant itself, to the dishes. In all honesty, the entire project was designed to be social media-friendly from the very beginning, in order to be as visible as possible, including abroad. We have a restaurant close to the Bois de la Cambre park and the Ixelles ponds. It’s a bit far out, and it isn’t a super busy area, but we fell in love with the house when we visited it, so we set up shop here. It turned out to be a great decision, because we’ve had no problem getting people to come out to see us. It’s a very pleasant neighbourhood.
Vegetarian dishes, unpackaged food, is environmental protection important to you?
It’s a very important topic, all the more so these days. It’s always been something we’ve taken into consideration from the very beginning. Personally, I try to make the right choices. These days it’s fairly easy to sort, recycle, eat properly, and get around on a bike or scooter. You just have to choose to.
Walk us through one of your typical days.
I only manage the restaurants’ communication and product development. On a day-to-day basis, there’s not that much to handle. I go about it the same way I would for any of my agency’s other clients, really. Our office is directly above the restaurant, so I often pop down to see what’s going on. I guess you could say my time is split between both. I’m not much of an early riser, so I generally make it to the office for 9:30. I don’t ever finish work that early, either. That being said, I’m fortunate enough to have flexible working hours.
What’s the first thing you do when you get up in the morning?
I’m utterly useless if I don’t have a shower before I start the day. The Horace Virginia cedar shower gel smells great, and I also use the purifying face cleanser, which I really like. I’ll follow that up with a moisturiser, either the Horace mattifying one, or an Aesop one.
Do you shave?
I haven’t fully shaved since I was 18! I can’t even tell you what I look like without a beard. The simple idea of shaving my beard off scares me. I’m sure my skin underneath it looks awful! As I regularly go to the hairdresser’s, I don’t even trim down my beard myself any more. I’ve found a great place, for €13 I get a dope fade and a beard trim. I go every two weeks. When it comes to styling my hair, I use wax pomade.
Do you exercise?
I do! I run quite often, I’d say twice a week. I try to run for a full hour. As I mentioned earlier, we’re close to the Bois de la Cambre park, it’s a great place to run.
How do you manage to switch off from work?
I travel a lot. It’s the main reason for which I work. My favourite trip so far was Iran. I went alone, to fulfil a childhood dream. However, I do find switching off quite difficult. I don’t really have weekends off, but I also never feel like I’m constantly working. I’ll work even when I’m on my holidays, since I handle my clients’ social media accounts. My day-to-day life is my job, and vice versa.