Auchan Franchiseโข Shift Leaves 11,400 Employees inโ Limbo, Social Benefits Uncertain
Paris, november 26, 2025 โ -โ A major restructuring at Auchan supermarkets is sparking anxiety among its 11,400 employees, asโ the retail giant announced plans Tuesday to franchise 294โ stores toโ Intermarchรฉโ and Netto. The move,revealed to manyโ workers via press reports,raises critical questions about the futureโ of their โฃjobs and,crucially,the preservation โof existingโข social benefits.
auchanretail, theโค group’s distribution arm, โintends to establish a new legal entity to manage the rebranded โstoresโฃ under franchise agreements with Intermarchรฉ-Mousquetaires. โWhile the โcompany maintains that jobs โฃare currently secure, labor representatives expressโ deep โconcern about potential long-term โขconsequences.
“For โthe moment,โ jobs areโค preserved, but we don’t know what will happen, perhaps in the long term intermarchรฉ will sort things out and close the establishments that are not working,” warned Sylvain โMacรฉ, national โsecretaryโ at the CFDTโค Services Federation.
The decision toโข transitionโ to a franchiseโข model comes as Auchan seeks toโฃ lower โขprices and improve โits financial performance. The iconic robin logo, historically used toโ signal early store โopenings, โmayโ soon disappear from these locations as the rebranding takes effect within the next year. The central question now facing employees is whether Intermarchรฉ will maintain the sameโ levelโ ofโ social protections and โbenefits currently offered by Auchan – a detailโ that remains unclear as theโ transition unfolds.