Behind the Scenes
Karel Verlinden joins Borro 🤝

We're thrilled to announce our collaboration with Karel Verlinden. Karel brings extensive knowledge in event hospitality. Over the past two seasons, he worked as the F&B coordinator at Royal Antwerp FC, where he was responsible for, among other things, the introduction of reusable cups. This experience has made him an authority on large-scale reuse systems.

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Discover more about Karel in his first interview here.

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What drew you to Borro, and what excites you the most about this new challenge?

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From my first conversation with Glenn and Kasper, I felt a strong connection with their approach. Borro offers a solution that the industry truly needs, and their way of working appealed to me right away. It’s clear that they’ve put a lot of thought into every detail, from the practicalities of their system to how it can be scaled up for larger events.

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I’m excited to bring my experience into a project that I believe has real potential to make an impact. Borro is in a strong position to grow, and I’m looking forward to helping them achieve that.

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Can you share your experience leading hospitality at Antwerp, and what lessons have you learned that you'll bring to Borro?

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At RAFC, I was responsible for the entire hospitality operation, including supporting major events such as the Belgian Cup Final and the Champions League. Managing relationships with partners, organizing and running events, and leading both staff and suppliers gave me broad experience. One of the biggest challenges was introducing the reusable cup system.

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Our main priority was to create a fair and efficient system for reusable cups that would work for the fans. Throughout the process, I learned a lot from all the involved organizations. Many are still searching for the ideal and affordable system. I believe my experiences and insights can provide significant value to anyone interested in the story of reusable cups.

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How do you see the role of reusable cups evolving in the future of events?

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There’s still some hesitation about reusable cups among many organizations. Both the organizations and the consumers were initially skeptical, and in many cases, reusable cups caused frustration. However, now that the legislation has been in place for over a year, I see reusable cups becoming more widely accepted.

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I do think many organizations hold on to their initial manual processes for too long. One of my main goals is to broaden the perspective on reusable cups. It’s about much more than just the cups—it's about having a fair deposit system, smooth bar operations, food safety, data, and preventing fraud.

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What will your role at Borro involve, and what will be your first steps to make an immediate impact?

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I’ll be supporting Borro on both the commercial and operational sides, drawing on my experience from RAFC. My main focus will be on helping them strengthen their presence in the market by building relationships and making sure the system works as smoothly as possible for each client.

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In the short term, I’ll be looking at how we can apply the knowledge I’ve gained in hospitality to make immediate improvements. Whether it’s optimizing how the system is implemented or helping clients get the most out of it, my goal is to ensure Borro’s solution delivers real value from day one.

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Kasper, Co-founder Borro:

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We clicked with Karel right away. From the very first moment, he understood Borro’s vision and was eager to be part of it. His work at RAFC, particularly with their reusable cup system, was impressive and showed his ability to implement large-scale changes effectively. As a young company, it’s a huge compliment to have someone with his expertise join us. We’re confident that his experience will help us elevate Borro to the next level.

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Welcome, Karel 🫶

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