The new president of Flora Nova wants to create new flower sales outlets – Le Journal des Entreprises

For the Bordeaux group Flora Nova, the year 2023 starts with a new president at its head. This is Frédéric Foncel, who has been general manager since 2021 of this network of florists. After twenty years of experience in mass distribution, he first joined Flora Nova as a Jardin des Fleurs franchisee in 2012, before becoming an employee at the same time, as operations manager in 2016, then as general manager. “This is what led me to take over the group at the end of 2022,” he explains. A takeover undertaken alongside the Parisian family office MyHa Partners, which becomes a majority shareholder of Flora Nova, also open to other group executives.

New points of sale

Frédéric Foncel thus succeeds Benoit Ganem, who had been, since 2011, president of the Bordeaux group, which he had seen born. Flora Nova brings together two brands specializing in flowers: Jardin des Fleurs and Oya Fleurs and thus leads a network of around a hundred points of sale throughout France. About 80 of the stores are run by franchisees. The remaining 20 are branches of the group, which has 120 direct employees, 400 to 500 in total, including the employees of franchisees.

The objective of the new president is to continue to develop the number of points of sale (franchises and branches), up to 5 to 10% per year, and to expand the network which could thus reach 150 stores within 5 years. Growth that is close to that of before the crisis.

Franchises and branches

“The group’s DNA is franchising, recalls Frédéric Foncel. We even created a company with variable capital, called Ginkgo, owned by the franchisees themselves. This is the first network I know where a company is owned by the franchisees,” he said. This grouping implemented at the end of 2021 allows its members to share risks and consolidate their negotiating power. However, in line with what had been undertaken by his predecessor, Frédéric Foncel also intends to “bring up” the branch stores.

Return to growth

No revolution in sight, therefore, with this change of presidency, but rather a desire to pursue the strategy which has enabled Flora Nova to get through the latest crises without too many problems and to stabilize its network. “I am rather optimistic in view of the resistance of our activity in the economic period that we are going through, shares Frédéric Foncel. on the contrary, it is resilient and even progressing in recent months, which is very rare in retail”, he adds, specifying that the fact of being under a brand is the strength of stores. A progression which had all the same been undermined as soon as the arrival of the Covid crisis, the turnover (excluding franchise) having gone from 3.6 million euros in 2019 to 2.7 million in 2020, to rise to 2.9 million in 2021 before crossing the 3 million mark in 2022. On the other hand, the company is more discreet on the turnover achieved by its network of franchises.