$ 10 million project for Maison Lavande

Florence Ferron, Daniel Joannette, Nancie Ferron and Marjolaine Ferron of Maison Lavande (Photo: courtesy)

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Do you remember former TQS journalists Nancie Ferron and Daniel Joannette?

Well 12 years after founding Maison Lavande, their family business is investing nearly $ 10 million for the purchase of two lots in the Innoparc de Saint-Eustache, in the Laurentians, and the construction of an industrial building where they will be centralized their design, manufacturing and e-commerce activities.

Due to be completed next year, this initiative should create around 20 positions. It is added to the agritourism center of Saint-Eustache which has made Maison Lavande famous.

A beneficial pandemic

This expansion was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic which upset their business model.

“Two of our suppliers have abandoned us to concentrate on the production of disinfectant gels. We felt vulnerable, ”explains Nancie Ferron in interviews with Deals.

Fearing for its supply, Maison Lavande asked another of the laboratories that made products for it to do more. However, the talks ended on a better note: the acquisition of Mineral Origin in September.

“We bought on Friday and operated on Monday. It was done as quickly as that, specifies Daniel Joannette. We secured supplies, we achieved vertical integration and we gained flexibility for our development. ”

With this transaction, the couple created a twin company, La Fabrique des Filles, which takes care of the laboratory, which serves Maison Lavande but also other customers.

Expansion

With its expansion project to which the laboratory acquired in the last year will be transferred, the tandem, which employs around one hundred people, hopes to at least triple its turnover within seven years.

The pandemic hasn’t really slowed the retailer, which sells 150 cosmetics and ambiance products, even though out of stock has cost it a few hundred thousand dollars.

“The online store saved us,” explained Daniel Joannette. It has grown by 400%. It must be said that the company was structured to have efficient electronic commerce which was already experiencing good progress. “

La Maison Lavande expects a busy summer in its agrotourism domain perfumed by lavender fields, which should reopen its doors thanks to the deconfinement.

And in the medium term, it has its eyes turned outwards.

“We have a great presence in Quebec and we still have room to grow,” says Nancie Ferron. But we have a lot of ambition for the rest of Canada. We are not present in the Maritimes, in Ontario and in the West. ”

This vision will perhaps be executed in part by his two daughters, Marjolaine and Florence Ferron, who have become shareholders and who respectively occupy the positions of vice-president of communications and marketing of Maison Lavande and vice-president of La Fabrique. girls.

“It’s a kind of smooth handover for the 2nd generation,” says Daniel Joannette.

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