"I recommend everyone to experiment"
Sabien as shopkeeper
Every crisis is an opportunity. Sabien Windels understands this like no other. When the corona crisis struck in mid-March, the founder of Roof Food seized the situation with both hands to launch a new concept. 'De dakshop' is Roof Food's rooftop vegetable garden shop where urban gardeners can indulge.
March 13, lockdown day. A day that came not a moment too soon for Sabien. She had just made the difficult decision to put an end to Roof Food's catering branch and let the staff go, and was actively searching for a new direction for the Roof Food story. "I felt somewhat lost, as if the ground had been swept from under my feet. I had no idea which direction to go and felt pressure from the board to come up with a new plan as a leader. With the lockdown, the world stood still. That was exactly what I needed."
De dakshop
Sabien doesn't need to think long. The pandemic provides the answer as if by itself. In a time of uncertainty and fear, people search for control and safety. Especially when it comes to food. More and more people are buying locally and trying to be self-sufficient. "And that fits perfectly with our short supply chain story. From your own vegetable garden, straight to your plate. It doesn't get shorter than that," laughs Sabien. "Since we had to close our rooftop restaurant due to the crisis, we were forced to be creative. And so De dakshop was born."
"I'm still exploring my role a bit. I don't want to run a shop all year round, I know that for sure"
Entrepreneurship in crisis
The Roof Food board of directors initially reacts less enthusiastically than Sabien hoped. "The board members did wake me up with their doubts and critical questions: How are you going to develop the shop? When will the shop be open: all year or only temporarily? Will you ever make it profitable? What's the relationship between you and Jonathan? I was a bit disappointed by their reaction. In my head, the vegetable garden shop was a logical step. As an entrepreneur in a crisis, you seize the opportunities that present themselves, right?"
An experiment
Sabien takes the board's comments to heart and considers the dakshop an experiment. "We'll start as a pop-up and decide later whether the shop will be permanent or not. The idea is that people order their plants via the webshop and pick them up on the roof at a set time." This experimentation is essential for regenerative organisations: you don't need to plan everything perfectly before you start. You start small, learn, adjust. Sabien and Happonomy call this "minimally viable experimentation" — you start with just enough to learn.
Which role Sabien will play in the vegetable garden shop is still uncertain. "I'm still exploring my role a bit. I don't want to run a shop all year round, I know that for sure. But I really enjoy being hands-on. That gives me a lot of energy. Getting to know the products better, meeting customers, preparing orders, working with Jonathan... I'm really looking forward to that!"
"It could go in any direction and that feels liberating"
Beginning and end
Sabien especially loves projects with a beginning and a clear end. "Otherwise I get nervous (laughs). I live future-oriented. I'm creative in my head and constantly make connections. When I no longer have room to seize opportunities, I die a little inside. What it's really about for me is not getting stuck in ideas, but manifesting them. That's the fun of entrepreneurship: realising something very practical. De dakshop isn't just a manifestation of our vision, it's a living experiment."
Emotions and dynamics
So it's still a bit of guesswork what the future holds for De dakshop. "I'm a little scared about hiring more staff besides Jonathan. I don't think I want that. On the other hand... if you want to build something, you can hardly avoid it. Is it because catering wasn't my passion that managing staff was so difficult? Those are questions I ask myself. That's why I find it so comfortable to simply experiment right now. I recommend that to everyone! It's the best way to learn and grow."
Your moment to experiment
Sabien shows us that it's not about perfection — it's about daring to start, daring to learn, daring to adapt. For entrepreneurs and innovators seeking their own path:
- Meet others who experiment and try things out at Spark Community — a safe space to ask your questions
- Explore the Leap process model — a framework for entrepreneurs building their regenerative business model step by step
Thanks to Vlaanderen Circulair, the Flemish policy organisation for circular economy, for supporting this article.