2023-11-15 05:00:00
She fell, got up and immediately started running again. Juliette Brun went bankrupt in August, but her company Juliette & Chocolat is already preparing to open a new restaurant.
• Read also: Juliette & Chocolat: restaurants closed
• Read also: Falling under the weight of pandemic debt
“Bankruptcy is a black hole. Within a year, I should be able to breathe,” says the ball of energy at the helm of this company which is more than 20 years old.
The 42-year-old chocolate entrepreneur closed her eight restaurants overnight, on August 7. Its 16,000 square foot factory was also swept away in this deluge called bankruptcy.
“I was a victim of rising interest rates,” she says without embarrassment and bluntly.
Juliette Brun is 42 years old and has 5 children, which doesn’t stop her from running her business. Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
To survive COVID, she took out one loan per restaurant, plus a ninth for the factory. She owed the bank $2.4 million. In the 12 months before the bankruptcy, it paid $1 million just in interest, without touching the capital.
“Business loans come with a variable rate, we don’t talk about it enough,” she says as a warning to all entrepreneurs.
However, on August 8, this mother of five children went back to work to better rebuild her business. She wasn’t going to let 20 years of effort go by without trying something.
“I took over a lease to launch a factory. I took over production. From 350 employees, there were only 4 left, including 2 part-time accountants,” she says with a thought for her “red hats”, her employees.
The team behind the new restaurant: Midean Mhmod, Juliette Brun, Mohamad Saleh Abodan and Afif Abodan. Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
Franchise to breathe better
Accustomed to putting out 25 fires a day and sharing her time between her eight restaurants and her factory, Juliette Brun is now adopting a new model: franchising.
Because it is not she who owns the new restaurant on rue Sauvé Ouest, in Montreal, but four Syrians of origin.
“We trust Juliette, despite the bankruptcy. She has a unique personality, and it’s with her that we want to get started,” underlines Mohamad Saleh Abodan, 42 years old.
He arrived in Canada in 2009 from his native Syria. He married a Quebec woman with whom he has three children. He is a real estate broker, and now a restaurateur.
“When I met my wife, we often went to Juliette & Chocolat, it was her favorite place,” he recalls.
Mr. Abodan launches into the restaurant business, well supported. He is surrounded by his brother, Afif, who arrived in the country in 2013, his cousin Mohamad Abodan – yes, they have almost the same name –, and his friend, Midean Mhmod.
The new restaurant is scheduled to open the first week of December. It is located on Sauvé Street West, in Montreal, very close to the original Adonis. Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
And Juliette will also be present for the first months of opening. She, who already takes care of the factory, will work extra hard for as long as it takes, even if it means working 20 hours a day. She is used to.
“We are already in discussions with other potential franchisees. The bankruptcy did not harm this level, if you can believe me,” she is surprised.
On Sauvé Ouest, it will be Midean, who arrived in Canada 18 months ago, who will be the boss.
“I became the best manager of Juliette & Chocolat in the world,” says with a laugh the man who already did numerous internships within the company before the bankruptcy, in order to know all its workings.
The restaurant should be open for the first week of December. For the rest, you will have to follow Juliette. And for that, you have to know how to run.
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