Zone Industrielle
Glaces Thiriet S.A. is the third largest manufacturer of ice cream in France, trailing only multinational giants Unilever and Nestlé ;. The company is also France's leading manufacturer of frozen pastri es and other desserts. Yet Thiriet also has built up a presence among that country's top frozen food retail specialists, with more than 15 0 stores located throughout France offering nearly 1,200 frozen food items. Most of the items sold in Thiriet stores feature the company's own brand names, including Thiriet and Prelande. Thiriet also carrie s a number of brand names, typically from the high-end bracket and no t commonly found in the larger supermarket channel. In addition to it s retail store network, Thiriet is present in France's frozen foods h ome delivery segment. In support of these operations, the company ope rates a fleet of more than 400 trucks, backed by a network of 75 dist ribution centers and staffed by a 1,000-strong sales force. Thiriet's home delivery sales are preordered through the company's 30-page cat alog. Founded by Claude Thiriet in the early 1970s, Glaces Thiriet re mains a privately held, independent company.
From Baker to Ice Cream Maker in the 1960s
The Thiriet family operated a bakery in the village of Eloyes, in the Vosges region of France. In 1966, Claude Thiriet, then just 22 years old, joined his mother at the bakery, where he began producing his o wn ice cream, in addition to the bakery's breads and pastries. Thirie t's ice creams quickly gained a reputation for their high quality, at tracting customers from throughout the region.
Thiriet's reputation soon reached the attention of the country's whol esalers and growing distribution companies. France was then undergoin g a revolution in its retail sector. Traditionally based on small, lo cally oriented and independently owned grocery shops, the retail sect or had begun a shift toward the rapidly growing supermarket format. B y the early 1970s, the country had seen the opening of the first hype rmarkets--combining the supermarket and department store formats--as well. Whereas the smaller grocers had only limited shelf space and fo cused on basic foods, the supermarket format provided the space for a n extensive variety of items, including expanded frozen foods section s. Attracted by the high quality of Thiriet's ice creams, the wholesa lers encouraged the bakery to invest in larger-scale production for t he supermarket sector.
The supermarket format favored the emergence of a small number of lar ge-scale retail groups operating on a regional and then national scal e. The development of these supermarket groups transformed the French foods sector. On the one hand, the larger companies possessed greate r purchasing power, enabling supermarkets to compete with lower prici ng. Contracts with the larger supermarkets also enabled food producti on companies to invest in expanding their own production capacity, wh ile also stimulating the growth of a production channel dedicated to the supermarkets' private-label sales. On the other hand, as the reta il sector entered into a steadily tightening consolidation, producers were confronted with a shrinking number of outlets for their product s. The large-scale supermarket groups featured only a limited number of brands within each product category on their shelves--losing a spo t on a supermarket's shelf spelled potential disaster to the food pro ducers. As a result, the large-scale distribution groups came to domi nate the food producers as well as the retail channel.
Thiriet recognized the opportunities offered by placing its products into the supermarket sector. In 1973 the family decided to specialize in the production of ice cream, and formed a new company, Glaces Thi riet. Yet Claude Thiriet remained wary of the retail industry, and in stead of devoting the new company to the production of its ice cream, decided to enter the direct retail sector as well, developing its ow n home delivery operation. In this way, the company was able to maint ain a degree of independence.
The home delivery market had long been an important retail channel in France, and especially in the country's rural and agricultural regio ns. These areas remained underserved by the larger distribution group s, which focused their expansion efforts on the country's metropolita n areas. A number of companies came to specialize in home delivery, t ypically operating truck-stores and making the rounds of customers' h omes. The appearance of freezers as common home appliances in the lat e 1960s and early 1970s created a new market for frozen foods, and a number of companies established specialized frozen food home delivery services.
Thiriet launched its own catalog, and invested in its own fleet of re frigerated trucks, providing deliveries of customer orders. The compa ny also developed its own sales staff in support of its home delivery operation, serving the Lorraine region. The success of both its whol esale and home delivery business led Thiriet to step up its productio n in the mid-1970s. In 1975, the company moved to the outskirts of El oyes, building a new factory to support the growing demand for its ic e cream. Through the rest of the decade, Thiriet focused on expanding the geographic reach of its ice cream brand, establishing concession partnerships throughout the country. By 1980, Thiriet had become a n ational ice cream brand.
Retail Network in the 1980s
Into the 1980s, the company began expanding its product line, adding a line of frozen pastries and desserts. The company continued to dist inguish itself by the high quality of its products; by the end of the 1990s, the Thiriet brand held the number three spot in the ice cream category (trailing only food products giants Unilever and Nestl&eacu te;) and the number one position in frozen desserts.
A major factor in the growth of the Thiriet brand was its decision to expand its retail operation in the mid-1980s. The company opened its first retail store in 1985, offering its ice creams and desserts, as well as a limited range of other food products. The success of the c ompany's retail division convinced Thiriet to expand that business st arting from 1990. As part of that expansion, the company began divers ifying its production, building up a more complete range of frozen fo od items under the Thiriet name. In addition to basic products, such as bulk vegetables, meats, fruits, and the like, the company created its own research and development team, charged not only with maintain ing quality levels, but also with developing new prepared foods recip es.
By the mid-1990s, competition in the frozen foods sector had intensif ied. Thiriet faced competition not only from the supermarket groups, which by then had come to dominate the national grocery market, but a lso from rivals such as Picard, which, like Thiriet operated in both the home delivery and retail stores segments, Gel 2000, a retail spec ialist, and Agrigel, the leading home delivery specialist. In order t o boost its position, Thiriet decided to engage in a massive investme nt program in the mid-1990s. The company expanded its range of goods, boosting its catalog to more than 1,000 items. Yet Thiriet remained true to its roots--more than one-third of its products fell under the frozen dessert category.
As part of its investment drive, Thiriet stepped up the pace of its n ew store openings. By the middle of the 2000s, the company numbered m ore than 150 stores. At the same time, the group's home delivery busi ness had continued to deepen its penetration of the French market. Su pporting the company's expansion was the establishment of a network o f some 75 distribution centers. The company also built up a network o f logistics platforms, including at its home base in Eloyes, but also serving the Sarthe, Aube, and Rhone regions.
International Interest in the 2000s
Thiriet continued building up its national infrastructure into the mi d-2000s. As part of this effort, the company earmarked some EUR 38 mi llion in new investments starting in 2001. This led to the constructi on of a new 12,000-square-meter logistics platform in Donzère, serving the Drôme region. In 2002 and 2003, the company added new distribution centers in Dainville and Petit Forêt, followed by the opening of a logistics platform in Moutauban-La Bastide St. P ierre in 2005 to provide support to the company's southwest region op erations. In that year, as well, the company boosted its distribution network to 75 centers, adding distribution centers in Mezieres and A lbi.
While building up its own national presence, Thiriet had long been in terested in the international markets as well. The company extended i ts reach to France's overseas possessions, establishing a store in Gu adeloupe, as well as two stores on the island of Reunion. The company also teamed up with international partners to introduce its ice crea m and pastry products to other markets. In Switzerland, for example, the company formed a partnership with Agemo, which extended the compa ny's distribution and home delivery operations into the French- and G erman-speaking regions, and also opened a Thiriet store in Switzerlan d. The company also added sales in Japan, The Netherlands, Korea, Mor occo, and Portugal. In 2004, the company extended its operations to L uxembourg and parts of Belgium, providing home delivery operations th ere.
By 2005, Thiriet held a solid place as France's third largest manufac turer of ice cream and leading producer of frozen desserts. The compa ny also had established itself as the country's second largest frozen foods retailer, with 150 stores throughout France. Thiriet, which re mained privately held and controlled by founder Claude Thiriet, also retained its interest in seeking out new partners to aid in building its brand on the international market. Thiriet looked forward to a ta sty future in the new century.
Principal Competitors: Carrefour S.A.; Etablissements E. LeCle rc S.A.; ITM Entreprises S.A.; Groupe Auchan; Rallye S.A.; Toupargel- Agrigel S.A.; Maximo.
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