In his 2,000 m2 laboratory in the Charente region, Michel Bernardin develops recipes for frozen desserts inspired by French culinary tradition, carefully selecting high-quality and seasonal ingredients from local producers, mainly based in France’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. His product range is divided into three major categories: “travel” products (crêpes, waffles, jésuites, etc.), traditional products (cakes, madeleines, muffins, etc.), and custom products. French Desserts, which has “artisan” certification, mainly does B2B sales to wholesalers in the hospitality and restaurant industry, to bakery chains, to events such as fairs and Christmas markets, and to major operators of amusement parks. Additionally, Michel Bernardin recently began selling French Desserts products to the general public at local supermarkets.
What’s more, French Desserts has been engaged for a number of years now in eco-friendly efforts, including the TEPOS project (short for “Positive Energy Territories,” led by the Charente Chamber of Commerce and Industry) focussing on energy savings, the Pacte Efficacité Matières (Materials Efficiency Pact), and the BECOME project for eco-friendly design. The company also keeps down its energy consumption by producing hot water using heat collected from its cooling systems, carries out initiatives to reduce waste, particularly from packaging, and creates recipes without additives and with less sugar.
To encourage responsible agriculture, the company joined the project #AgriDemain, the leading movement bringing together the biggest professional organisations in the agricultural sector around a vision for transformation and local distribution of products.
“Crédit Mutuel Equity becoming a shareholder of the company will allow me to confidently grow our concept in France, as well as elsewhere in Europe, and maybe even the United Kingdom. With support from a trusted partner that understands our business, shares ideas for projects, and loves our products, I feel less alone as I undertake a series of investments, particularly to finance the opening of a new production line and the creation of new jobs. This round of fundraising also allowed me to invite managers to become shareholders,” explains Michel Bernardin, who cares deeply about the engagement of his employees.
“The unusual business model of this regional SME, which has solid production capacities and is able to continue producing recipes using high-quality ingredients, just as an individual artisan would, has no real equivalent in the frozen pastry market, offering great potential for growth in this dynamic sector. Michel Bernardin is an innovative leader with a lot of expertise. Notably, he is very concerned about issues related to diet and using local products. With this initial round of fundraising, we are supporting his capacity for growth and we stand by him, ready to seize opportunities for external growth,” adds Frédérique Bousseau, Director of Equity Investments at Crédit Mutuel Equity.
- Investor
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- Crédit Mutuel Equity
- Frédérique Bousseau, Director of Equity Investments
- Éve Basse-Cathalinat, Executive Director
- Investor Experts
- Bruno Rouxel, sector consultant at Cabinet ACS
- Cornet Vincent Segurel: Stéphanie GERARD
- CP&A Corporate Finance: Mathieu Ciron
- French Desserts
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- Michel Bernardin – Chairman
- Company Experts
- Fidal: Charlette Mercier
About Crédit Mutuel Equity:
Crédit Mutuel Equity is home to all of the Private Equity activities of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale: Capital Développement (Capital Development), Capital Transmission (Capital Transfer), and Capital Innovation.
Crédit Mutuel Equity provides capital support to business leaders at all stages of development of their companies—from start-up to transfer—by giving them the resources and time required to implement their transformation projects. Crédit Mutuel Equity brings together over 350 business leaders, who share their beliefs and pose questions within a true network of entrepreneurs that allows each member, regardless of the nature of their project, to benefit from the experience of others. By investing its own capital (€ 4 billion), Crédit Mutuel Equity finances companies’ projects with timelines that are adapted to their growth strategies, in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Canada.
For more information: www.creditmutuel-equity.eu
About Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale:
A leading French bank and insurance company, with over 75,000 employees and serving over 29 million customers, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale offers a range of services to individual customers, local professionals, and companies of all sizes, via its 4,500 points of sale. Among the most solid banking groups in Europe, its equity capital amounted to € 53.2 billion and its CET1 ratio stood at 18.8% on 31 December 2021.
Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale brings together the Crédit Mutuel banks of the following federations: Centre Est Europe (Strasbourg), Sud-Est (Lyon), Île-de-France (Paris), Savoie-Mont Blanc (Annecy), Midi-Atlantique (Toulouse), Loire-Atlantique et Centre Ouest (Nantes), Centre (Orléans), Normandie (Caen), Dauphiné-Vivarais (Valence), Méditerranéen (Marseille), Anjou (Angers), Massif Central (Clermont-Ferrand), Antilles-Guyane (Fort-de-France), and Nord Europe (Lille).
Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale also includes the Caisse Fédérale de Crédit Mutuel, the Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) and all its subsidiaries, notably CIC, Euro-Information, Assurances du Crédit Mutuel (ACM), TARGOBANK, Cofidis, Banque Européenne du Crédit Mutuel (BECM), Banque de Luxembourg, Banque Transatlantique, and Homiris.
More information is available at www.creditmutuelalliancefederale.fr