During the EFMI Congress, Serdar Tolenaar offered a behind-the-scenes look at Mama's Meals. The former PLUS entrepreneur started 4.5 years ago with a chef in his shop who was able to make very good, ready-made meals. This quickly proved to be a success, as the meals flew out the door and a second cook was hired after just one week. "We like distinct flavours, and it turned out that a large target group liked that too," Serdar observed. Together with his associates, Rick Hageman - owner of three SPAR shops - and Henk Brussaard - seller of sliced fruit - they decided to roll out the concept nationwide.
© Izak Heijboer | FreshPlaza.com
Serdar Tolenaar during his presentation at the Verscongres
The three entrepreneurs immediately decided to market the meals under their own brand. "With private label, very safe margins are maintained, but often at the expense of flavour. A pasta pesto with very little salt simply does not taste good. Our key is to offer very recognisable meals that are spot on. We really stand out in terms of ingredients and taste."
Distinctive
Mama's Meals deliberately targets a younger generation, who are happy to pay 7-8 euros for a tasty meal. "Our price point is at the upper end, but that makes us distinctive compared with what is currently available in the supermarket." Production is outsourced to producers in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. "You have to focus on what you are good at. We did have to teach the producers to think outside the box," says Serdar.
The entrepreneurs started with chilled, ready-made meals. This range has since been streamlined to three concepts with strong uptake: meals, salads, and poké bowls. In addition to the chilled-fresh range, Mama's Meals has also moved into frozen meals, with 10 favourites now on the shelves. A partnership with XXL Nutrition was set up for this purpose. "If we had only offered chilled fresh meals, we would no longer be here," Tolenaar admitted frankly. "In the top 15 new product introductions in the frozen segment last year, six of ours were among the top eight. Retail-wide, we ranked 11th based on percentage growth."
The company has not stopped there; it recently entered the fresh produce segment, a market previously completely dominated by private labels. "That took some effort, because having a brand in fresh is not very convenient if you do not like hassle," Serdar laughs. Mama's Meals deliberately seeks collaborations with other suppliers, such as HAK for pulses and Verstegen for spices. "Alone you go faster, together you get further," he says.
Dragons Den
This year, Mama's Meals is turning over 11 million euros and is breaking even for the first time. Financial breathing space came from participation in the Dragons' Den program, after which investor Pieter Schoen joined the team. "We are just simple supermarket entrepreneurs. Piet and his team are very strong in data and were perfectly able to help us get the scaling up on the back end right."
The latest ambition is to expand across the border, starting with frozen meals, followed later by chilled products. Mama's Meals has already launched at several retailers in Belgium, and from week 1 in 2026, the company will enter the German retail market with Bunting and Kaufland. Asked whether this involves the same meal range, Serdar replies: "You should not make a Belgian eat satay, so we carefully assess which flavour variants work abroad. Germany is quite Asian-oriented, which seems to fit our range very well."
At the same time, the team at Mama's Meals is not focused solely on meals. "We agreed that once we approached break-even, we wanted to give something back to society. We did that by setting up the Foundation 'Everyone Deserves a Mum'. We now organise events in about six provinces, where we connect foster children and foster parents. As many as 300 foster children attend these events. I myself have been a foster child since I was 12, and I love being able to do this now."
