After having been at the head of Lunch Garden for almost 10 years, Annick van Overstraeten has just been designated, this Friday, as future CEO of Le Pain Quotidien by the M80 fund, the group’s new majority shareholder, we learn on the site of the Echo. This designation comes while the chain is emerging from a judicial reorganization.
“I am very happy to be able to start on Monday with the current team and take up this new challenge and make Le Pain Quotidien a success story. We are optimistic. The figures in Belgium are not bad at all. We are 70% of our last year’s turnover, which is not bad because we have reduced opening hours, with fewer tables. Of course, the situation in Paris is a little more complicated because there are much less But people will continue to eat, it remains for us to optimize all that, “she told La Libre. “We are going to refocus on Belgium, France and the United Kingdom but we are keeping our franchisees worldwide”, she added.
Manager of the year in 2019
Annick van Overstraeten, 54, had left the post of CEO of Lunch Garden last May, citing differences with the main shareholder of the restaurant chain.
As Daily Bread goes through a complex period – the situation of which has worsened further with the coronavirus crisis – Annick van Overstraeten appears to be the ideal candidate to raise the bar. As evidenced by the record left behind at Lunch Garden, ridding the brand of its dull image, nurturing relations with unions and cleaning up the finances of the 75 branches. The work carried out with the 1,300 employees of the group had also earned him being named “manager of the year” by the magazine Trends in 2019.
Within Le Pain Quotidien, the new thinking head of the chain will have to face many challenges, in a context where turnover has eroded over time, especially since the health crisis.
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