They had been there for 152 years. But everything has an end and, for Emmanuel Aubert, the general manager of the Mauro group, this move is ultimately an opportunity.
“We had to leave Antibes for reasons of common sense. When the company was born, there were no houses around. Only greenhouses, crops… we were outside the city. Now we is surrounded and we have nothing more to do there”he relativizes.
Be closer to your customers
Little by little, the teams of the Mauro group are taking over the 4000m² of their new premises in Pégomas, where they moved in April.Photo A. P..
This somewhat forced departure allowed the group to reflect on its future. “Instead of having a depot and traveling several kilometers from this site, we had to have several, located near or in the heart of the major consumption areas for our products”, explains Emmanuel Aubert. Namely: Nice, Antibes and Cannes, as well as the Var.
The company therefore keeps its Puget-sur-Argens site, begins to settle in the industrial zone of Pégomas and will soon arrive in Carros.
Objective: to be close to its customers. Because, in addition to the distribution of drinks, Mauro also financially supports certain establishments. “This is one of the peculiarities of the region, due to the price of land. The banks generally cover the essentials and, we, the accessory. We invest in equipment, we sometimes advance funds… it can be important”explains the general manager.
A few years back, he remembers coming across a crowdfunding campaign to set up a school to learn how to brew beer, in Nice. The project is imagined by the Go Hops! boutique, which sells local beers and brews its own. “I contacted them to tell them that I thought it was great, that I would complete the financing and, in return, they trained my teams”, says Emmanuel Aubert. He then contacted the organization that brings together local brewers, Biam06, to support other projects.
“It’s common sense: we live from our region. The more it renews itself, the better it is”he summarizes.
The regret of not staying in Antibes
Photo A. P..
Leaving, Emmanuel Aubert ensures that no dismissal has been pronounced. “Four people did not follow us because it disrupted their organization too much, but that’s it. We are even going to hire seven employees”he confirms.
As in any move, one regret remains. There, not having been more supported by the town hall to keep a deposit in Antibes. “It’s our city. The Mauro family is from Antiboise, many of us grew up there… there were 107 people on this site, the majority lived in Antibes. This move necessarily has an impact on their daily lives, but we didn’t felt a lot of support from the municipality. However, we thought it would be proud to keep a company that has not changed location in a century and a half”asks Emmanuel Aubert.
Who consoles himself by praising the warm welcome of neighboring towns.
Photo A. P..
“Instead of building housing, we might have revived rail freight”
The three hectares that the Mauro group rented in Val Claret have changed over time. “A good twenty years ago, we received a large part of our goods by train. Then rail freight stopped“, recalls Emmanuel Aubert. This is confirmed by Dominique Boutet, a retired railway worker and fervent defender of rail freight.”Instead of building housing, we might have relaunched the transport of goods by train, which is less polluting than by truck.“, he underlines.
And continues:It’s not just Antibes, it’s a subject that affects the whole department. For example, there is no longer a rail freight service in Nice, the fifth largest city in France. This is ecological nonsense. Especially since the highway does not need trucks to be bottled up.“
Yet he says some infrastructure still exists. “In Antibes, when horticulture was still flourishing, we received refrigerated wagons with a reserve of ice on the sides. We sent them back full of flowers, everywhere in France. On the other side of the station, we received wagons of new cars. The track still exists, even if it is overgrown with tall grass“, he recalls.
Ditto in Cannes-La-Bocca, where the Cannes goods station remains, not accessible to travelers. “1,000 wagons might get there. Today, these routes are deserted and everyone squints on them because they are land with a sea view.“, advances Dominique Boutet. Who remains realistic.
“service roads [des voies situées à côté de celles où circulent les trains] were destroyed in Golfe-Juan, sold in Juan-les-Pins and Cagnes-sur-Mer. We therefore deprive ourselves of a step back”, he regrets. Arguing that in our region by the sea, provided with mountains, rail freight would have its place.
The building permit for the Val Claret real estate project, led by Bouygues Immobilier, was submitted in December. On the program: 172 housing units integrated into a park and open to the sea thanks to a passage reserved for pedestrians and soft modes of transport. The land is currently held by the State but the City wishes to buy it in December 2023. Once the building permit has been obtained and purged.
Work will begin in the first half of 2024 and should be completed by the end of 2026. The program will be delivered in two phases: mid-2026 and early 2027.
