With the privatization of the restaurant chain La Cage – Brasserie Sportive, the boss of Sportscene, Jean Bédard, says he is preparing his succession which will pass, he hopes, through members of his management team. An acquisition or a partnership to develop a new brand is also on the menu for 2022.
• Read also: Privatization of Sportscene
In recent years, despite the interest of several investors to buy his restaurants, the Quebec businessman has always refused the idea of selling his shares to foreign groups or other companies.
It is to his employees that he would like to hand over the reins within “five or seven years”, while maintaining a certain proximity with the company.
“At 58, it gives me time to prepare for the future. […] I want to put on something good and I also want to make sure of the sustainability ”, confided to the Journal the President and CEO, hours following Sportscene shareholders approved 99% and dust the deal allowing the company to exit the stock markets.
Mr. Bédard and a consortium of local investors led by Corporation Financière Champlain will take control of the group holding La Cage at the end of the process scheduled for next week.
The president will keep around 18% of the company’s shares.
“What they also want is in the same direction as us, is to grow the business in Quebec,” said Mr. Bédard, specifying that his agreement with the Corporation Financière Champlain will have to be discussed once more. here seven years. The investor can then choose to withdraw or stay.
Mr. Bédard had been working on this privatization plan since mid-July. Two groups raised their hands to support it. The transaction is estimated to be worth approximately $ 51.25 million ($ 7.25 per share).
“Relieved” and “serene”
The big boss says he chose to undertake this shift towards the private sector because of the administrative burden and the costs associated with his presence on the public markets. He does not hide the fact that he was also a little tired of managing a company on the Stock Exchange in the midst of a pandemic. He says he is “relieved” and “serene”.
“I’m happy, yes, but this week I’ve spent more time thinking with my employees on when we’re going to reopen than this deal. I would have liked better an annual meeting in person, ”said Mr. Bédard.
Next month, La Cage management plans to open two new restaurants, in LaSalle and Laval, to bring the number of establishments to 40.
In its boxes, Sportscene is also looking to deploy a new brand thanks to an acquisition or a new partnership in 2022. Mr. Bédard does not hide having already in the eye certain companies.
“We are going to try to replicate the model we have done with La Cage elsewhere. We might perhaps find a Quebec chain and open more restaurants. Something that is in Montreal and bring it to Quebec or the opposite, ”he said, adding that he is also thinking regarding the future of the Asian brand PF Chang’s.
“This brand does not belong to us. […] Our contract ends in two years. It is not in the priorities ”, he admits.
Like other restaurateurs, the pandemic has forced La Cage to review its business model by focusing more on a delivery service.
Mentioned in the summer of 2020, however, management now rejects the idea of setting up its own delivery service.
