Review: Brand Bites

Vanuit Gent werkt Brand Bites als brandingbureau. De bezetting ligt rond 4 VTE. Het bureau combineert strategie, branding & identiteit, social media en content & copy. Sectoren waar het bureau vaak werkt: horeca en food.

ContinuityUnder pressure2,0 months of wages without income · median 5,2

littlea lot

SeniorityMixed profile€ 64.849 per FTE, € 5.404 a month · median € 57.161

juniorsenior

GrowthGrowing fast31,0% gross margin versus the previous year · median 2,1%

shrinkinggrowth

ProfitabilityAverage margin22,6% of gross margin remains as EBITDA · median 26,5%

thinample

1

How this agency makes money

Revenue, margin and what an hour of work brings in. Everything on the earning side sits together here.

Revenue trendgross margin per financial year

2021202220232024

Latest year: € 314.439 gross margin, growth +31% against a sector median of +2,1%.

At or above sector pace

MarginEBITDA / gross margin · value-added coverage

2021202220232024

Brand BitesSector median

EBITDA margin 22,6%, sector median 26,5%. Value-added coverage 1,30 (median 1,30).

Healthy margin

Revenue per headGross margin per FTE, against payroll cost

€ 87.344

Median (2024) € 78.994

Against a payroll cost of € 64.849 per FTE. The ratio between the two is the coverage rate above.

Above the median

Yield levelYield per hour worked, against payroll cost

€ 45

Median (2024) € 46

6.955 hours worked, 1.932 per FTE. Against that sits € 34 of payroll cost per hour worked, leaving € 12 for premises, equipment, depreciation and profit.

Around the median

No hourly rate follows from this. Gross margin is already net of services and sundry goods, which mixes rebilled production with the agency's own overhead, and the accounts do not say how many hours were billable. Deriving a rate from this systematically understates it.

2

Can the agency take a hit

Buffer, cash position and payment behaviour side by side, so you can see where they disagree.

Bufferequity in months of payroll

Buffer: 1,8 months (median 8,3 mo). Equity in the latest year: € 34.340.

Thin buffer

Cash positionAvailable cash, and whether it covers short-term debt

Cash € 39.268. Liquidity ratio 0,83: current assets cover short-term debt not in full. Solvency 7,8%.

Not covered

Payment behaviourTowards suppliers and towards the NBB

Trade payables correspond to 74 days of supplier credit, sector median 73. The accounts were filed 241 days after closing; the legal deadline is seven months.

Filed late

3

Signals and strengths

Events from the CBE and the Official Gazette over the past 24 months, plus positive markers derived from the figures.

Continuity

Warnings active

Signals in the last 24 months

Late filing · 29 Aug 2025 · NBB
The annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this; rarely alarming in itself.
Thin buffer · 31 Dec 2024 · NBB
Equity covers less than three months of payroll. Not an alarm, but a limited reserve.
Late filing · 20 Aug 2024 · NBB
The annual accounts were filed after the statutory deadline. Over a third of the sector does this; rarely alarming in itself.

Click a signal for a plain-language explanation.

What this agency does well

Gross margin grew 3 years in a row
Comfortable cash position: 61 days of payroll

Each point is a fact from the filed annual accounts, measured against the same thresholds and sector medians as the signals above.

4

All the figures

Reference material, not a starting point. Expand it if you want to read the series yourself.

4 financial years, 2021 to 2024Result, staff and balance sheet

	2021	2022	2023	2024
Result
Gross margin	€ 71.000	€ 214.614+202,3%	€ 240.006+11,8%	€ 314.439+31%
EBITDA	€ 20.000	€ 40.509	€ -14.589	€ 70.952
EBITDA margin	28,2%	18,9%	-6,1%	22,6%
Staff
FTE	0,7	3,5+400%	4,4+25,7%	3,6-18,2%
Gross margin per FTE	€ 101.429	€ 61.318	€ 54.547	€ 87.344
Payroll cost per FTE	€ 54.286	€ 47.640	€ 55.482	€ 64.849
Balance sheet
Equity	€ -25.000	€ 6.158	€ -12.048	€ 34.340
Cash	-	€ 2.437	€ 42.487	€ 39.268
Liquidity ratio	-	0,92	0,84	0,83

Payroll cost per FTE comes from the social report where available, otherwise from the Remuneration line. Both are gross costs including employer contributions.

What this factsheet does not know

How good the work is. Figures do not measure creativity, strategy or chemistry.
How the client portfolio is spread. Concentration is not in the accounts.
Freelancers and subcontractors are not in the FTE figures. An agency with 40 staff may in practice run with 70 people.
The figures cover financial year 2024, filed on 29/08/2025. At a fast-moving agency reality today may differ.

Based on publicly filed annual accounts (NBB) and official records (CBE, Belgian Official Gazette). An indication, not financial advice. Sector medians calculated on 27 Jul 2026. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.

What the agency actually does 7 services

Strategy & Insights

Brand strategy & positioning Marketing strategy

Branding & Design

Brand identity & design

Content & Production

Content strategy & editorial Copywriting & long-form content

Social, Influencer & Community

Organic social content Social strategy & platform mix

Sector focus

horeca en food

Based on IKAg research and public sources. Incomplete or outdated? Let us know.

1

Seniors or juniors?

Payroll cost per FTE is the best public proxy for a team's experience level. Higher is not automatically better, but it says something about who sits at the table.

Payroll cost per FTE

€ 64.849

+13% versus the median

Team composition

3,6 VTE

€ 64.849

Median Brandingbureau (2024) € 57.161All agencies (2024) € 59.129

Read with care. Directors and partners invoicing through a management company are not in the payroll cost. At small agencies this skews the picture downwards considerably.

2

Will your team stay?

Inflow and outflow from the social report. This series only counts people on the payroll: freelancers who invoice do not appear in it. A low figure therefore means two very different things, a stable permanent team or a small core with heavy outsourcing. A high figure usually points to short contracts. Compare only within the same type of agency.

Exits 2024

105,6%

Median for this type of agency (2024): 37,6%

Inflow 2024

133,3%

4,8 FTE in, 3,8 FTE out

Net team change

+1,0 VTE

2021202220232024

Exits are clearly above what is usual for this type of agency. That may reflect project-based staffing, but it is a reason to ask in the pitch how much of the proposed team was already here two years ago, and to contractually fix your permanent contacts.

Source: annual accounts and social reports (NBB), collected by IKAg. Financial year 2024. Calculations by IKAg; an indication, not financial advice. Sector medians based on financial year 2024: the last year for which nearly all accounts have been filed.