C’has solid experience in commerce and distribution, first at LU, Cadbury and Monoprix – where, in charge of organic groceries and dairy and frozen products, he supported the launch of brands such as Michel & Augustin –, then at Carrefour as host of Ooshop.com – which has since become carrefourlivréchezvous.com) –, that one fine morning in 2018, Laurent Guardiola, 40, embarked on his own adventure.
“My initial idea was to make shopping easier with recipe basket offers, what we call “meal kits” to cook. The principle is quite simple: depending on their seasonality, the ingredients – meat, fish, vegetables, starches, herbs, spices – are put together in a package in the right quantity with an associated recipe sheet for 2, 3 or 4 people, the everything charged from 3.50 euros per meal and per person. The concept allows a certain saving of time and the assurance of a tasty meal in the event of an unexpected guest.
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For a few months, the entrepreneur tested his idea in Seine-Saint-Denis on a stand at the Pré-Saint-Gervais market, where he is always present every Saturday morning. About forty kits are sold there every weekend. A delivery service is set up for businesses. Unlike historical players like QuiToque, the boss relies on an offer without subscription and available mainly in places with high traffic. The pandemic breaks the dynamic, but not the determination of Laurent Guardiola, who then opens a shop called Julienne in Pré-Saint-Gervais. A hybrid place that offers meal kits, but also fruits and vegetables, organic or directly from producers, cooked jars, cheese, meat, wine or even anti-waste baskets.
Minestrone soup or chili sin carne
Since the launch, a hundred customers a day have been parading there, and not far from 150 recipes have been tested and approved: salmon curry with coconut milk, spring minestrone soup, chili sin carne, vegetable tagine with dried fruits, Vietnamese-style pho soup. These meal kits are also distributed in a few Monoprix and Casino stores in the Paris region.
Recently, a new store opened on boulevard Murat, in the 16e district, residential area with few innovative shops. The welcome is very warm and educational. Faced with a finicky customer, the seller offers to open a meal kit, then runs. “Most packaging is paper,” he explains, “except for meat and herbs. There, we have no choice. She wants to buy a beef dish, but there is no more. The last “Pollack with mashed potatoes” was also sold. Disappointed, the customer asks when the department will be restocked. “We won’t have any for a few weeks, replies the seller, even a few months. Our baskets are also designed according to the concordance of the offer. For example, we are not going to offer eight recipes with polenta. You have to be diverse. »
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The limits of the room
The first criterion is seasonality, the second, the proximity of producers. The presence of avocados and kiwis makes the customer wince. “They come from Spain and Italy,” says the seller. And they are 100% organic”, like other products grown outside France. The local has become a value in itself. However, “the exaltation of the local does not always lead to rational choices and it carries with it ideologies of withdrawal and autarky, underlines the sociologist and economist Pierre Veltz. Transport costs should not hide the fact that most emissions are linked to production. »
Julienne does not claim to be an organic company. “We take it, specifies Laurent Guardiola, but we do not make it an absolute principle. We try to find a balance between the good taste of seasonal products and the right price. For example, you will not find tomatoes in our shops in winter. To support its development, finance jobs, open new stores, deploy its communication, the company has just completed a fundraiser of 300,000 euros led by Tuvigo, a local crowdfunding player.
Julienne, 130, bd Murat, 75017 Paris and 1, rue Franklin, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais (93).
