Can “La Pataterie” make a comeback after losing three quarters of its empire?

2012. The Socialist Party has just come to power with Francois Hollande, Montpellier is the French football champion (yes, yes), and every peri-urban or peripheral area has a pettery. Table restaurant franchising was at its peak at the time, with more than 220 brands across the country. After twelve years, it is difficult to determine who is doing worse. Montpellier is fighting to stay in Ligue 1, PS is less than 5% in the presidential election, and La Pataterie now has just 56 restaurants, or a quarter of its former empire.

“The 2010s saw the peak of fast-food restaurants and ever-increasing competition,” laments Laurent Gillard, the chain’s new CEO from 2022. Covid-19 also happened there, causing significant bleeding – in 2019 the chain still had 130 establishments but, as bosses assure him, it was not to lament the past or judge the decisions made before it, but rather a recovery plan in early February and Restructuring is to be introduced.

“Restaurant Franchises Don’t Work Anymore”

It may seem tempting to get rid of bad memories, but the past has merit in teaching that evil runs deep. Because La Pataterie isn’t the first attempt to poke its head out of boiling water, with or without starch. It underwent a “recovery plan” in 2021, initiated by short-lived CEO Sebastien Laporte. Before that, in 2019, it was a “recovery” under manager Michael Cottin, appointed in December 2017. But there was also another “recovery plan” in 2016, with Alexandre Maizou at the helm. Every time, failures.

An almost inevitable downfall to the discerning eyes of Bernard Boutbol, ​​president of Gira, a company specializing in out-of-home catering. The problem is not a company that has thought too big, but a change of era and generation, which is a bit more complicated to stop. “Restaurant franchises don’t work anymore,” says the expert, citing Courtpail or Napacaro (formerly Buffalo Grill). For parents and grandparents, it was a guarantee of food quality, safety choices. But people under 30 are anti-chains, they want unique, original, offbeat experiences, concepts.

Potato vs. World Food

American brands, apart from the McDonald’s-Burger King duopoly, which is now too well established to collapse, are experiencing difficulties in the land of gastronomy, as explained in this paper. “Consumers now favor much smaller and more intimate chains and tend to shun large groups,” says Nathalie Louisgrand, a teacher-researcher specializing in gastronomy at the Grenoble Ecole de Management.

“Competition has increased, so instead of repeating the same classics one can always find a new restaurant or a small chain,” continues the expert. What can a potato do against sushi, poke bowls, woks, pizza, fried chicken and all the new dishes that have exploded in recent years?

Has La Pataterie lost its soul?

This is another almost insoluble problem of La Pataterie. As explained by Clementine Hugol-Gencial, professor and expert on contemporary food issues at the University of Burgundy, a card that no longer has to conform to expectations. “Today, food should be aesthetic, Instagrammable, multicultural and healthy. » Not really his thing, potatoes. Its consumption in France is also in free fall: it was 65 kilograms per inhabitant per year in 2007, down to less than 50 today.

The fact is that while our name is La Pataterie – and Laurent Gillard has clearly indicated that he does not want to change the name – we really have no choice. Here again, the mark is sometimes missed. “With the trend towards single products, the brand is interested in putting the potato back at the center of everything to create a kind of potato temple. It would at least be a strong concept instead of offering spring rolls, salads or entrecotes like she does, which don’t fit her identity,” believes Bernard Bouteboul.

An illness too deep to treat?

Laurent Gillard has noted some of these problems. He wants to modernize the sign, the logo, the establishments – no more tractors in the middle of some restaurants. But also focus on potatoes, with new cooking and a presence in almost every dish on the menu (not desserts, we assure you).

However, the damage may already be done. “This type of franchise has a somewhat old-fashioned, not to say old, image,” admits Clementine Hugol-Gencial. Bernard Boutboule: “These are brands with a very high reputation and a bad image, it’s hard to change. If we If we say ‘Come back, we have changed’, the customer will be suspicious. » For the game proposed by the Socialist Party or Montpellier, you object.