But where will Michel Ohayon stop? After getting his hands on the 23 Galeries Lafayette franchisees in the space of a few years, then on the Grande Récré, Camaïeu, Go Sport and Gap France brands, the Bordeaux businessman offers himself a grand cru… of coffee. His company Hermione People & Brands (HPB) announces that it has acquired all of the assets of the Norman roaster Legal, owned by the Frydman family.
The sales contract, the amount of which has not been disclosed, includes the company’s 160 coffee brands (1851, Le Café des Chefs, Le Goût, etc.), several dozen patents as well as the production tool installed in the city of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. Which has also brought ” active support to the transaction, as specified by the buyer in a press release.
A piece of history
By getting its hands on the Cafés Legal, HPB offers itself a piece of the history of the little French black. Founded in 1851 in the golden age of coffee imports on the quays of Le Havre, the almost two-hundred-year-old roaster has resisted against all odds the steamroller of the multinationals in the sector dominated by Nestlé and Mondelez. We owe him some nice marketing moves. Those over twenty remember that in the 90s, he went so far as to hire the services of Johnny Hallyday, whose famous “Legal, taste” has remained in the annals.
Today the fifth player in France and the first independent, the Normandy SME still employs 137 employees for 46 million euros in turnover. Endangered by the spectacular fire at its factory in 2016, it has bounced back through innovation. At the height of the coronavirus crisis, it distinguished itself by simultaneously launching the first vegetable, biodegradable and compostable capsule and an e-commerce site.
First steps in the food department
If this change of shareholder marks a turning point in its long history, it is also a turning point for its new parent company. It is, in fact, the first time that the Bordeaux entrepreneur, who has become the 144th fortune in France (according to Challenges), tries his luck in the food sector. But it’s a safe bet that it will not be the last since Legal will join the brand new division Food & Beverage (F&B) that Hermione People & Brands has just created following this takeover.
Although the synergies with the group’s thousand points of sale are not immediately obvious, HPB ensures that this first acquisition in the food sector resonates with its growth strategy and its desire to ” to support heritage brands dear to the hearts of the French by making them grow thanks to its distribution network “. All that remains is to convince the 27 million loyal clients claimed by Michel Ohayon.
