Brownies & Downies Tilburg

Brownies and Downies is a lunchroom with several locations in the Netherlands, as of 2018 there’s also one in my hometown Tilburg. Right across from where I live actually, at the Pieter Vreedeplein in the city center.
Owner Thijs came up with the idea for Brownies and Downies after he worked as a PE teacher in special education. He opened up his first lunchroom in the city where he lived: Veghel. People with Down’s Syndrome are working in the kitchen and as waiters and they’re guided and coached by experienced employees. It was a big success from the beginning. In 8 years time it grew to 53 locations! They even have a Brownies & Downies in Cape Town, South Africa!

As I said, Brownies and Downies Tilburg has opened its doors in 2018. With its central location and big terrace it’s been very successful straight away. It’s the perfect spot for lunch or for coffee and a brownie on a day of shopping.
The service at Brownies&Downies is truely unique. The boys and girls are doing so well and you can see how they’re enjoying it fully. If they have time, they’re more than willing to have a chat about their job or to share a funny anecdote. The support of the coordinators is also great; they’re positive and patient.

Brownies and Downies changes their menu every season, but most of the classics will stay on it. For vegetarians they have a sandwich with hummus and grilled vegetables or a goat cheese salad for example.
They have a new breakfast menu at Brownies and Downies that includes this granola. You can go for the healthy version with mixed berries like I did, or you can go for the ‘guilty pleasure’ with Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate and banana.

Speaking of guilty pleasures, they added 3 different kinds of American pancakes to their menu: Bananoffee Pancakes, brownie-crumble pancakes or red fruit pancakes.
And of course they have brownies. You can go for a natural one, one with caramel-seasalt or one with cranberry-pecan. They also have a natural blondie (with white chocolate) and a blondie with blueberries.