The Porcel family, now alone at the Restoleil table
Restoleil, the restaurant group based in Haute-Savoie, has reorganised its capital and is gradually preparing for the rise of the second generation. Forty years after arriving in La Plagne as a seasonal worker, Michel Porcel (on the right in the photo) has built up a group that remains atypical, with its forty restaurants.
Forty years after arriving in La Plagne as a seasonal worker, Michel Porcel has built up a group that remains atypical, with its forty restaurants in tourist areas. We are the only family operator of this size in the seasonal catering segment,” confirms the CEO of Restoleil, who is gradually handing over the reins to his son, Quentin Porcel, Deputy Managing Director and Operations Director of Groupe Base Camp Lodge.
The activities are overseen by the Tempobac holding company, which has reorganised its capital with the withdrawal of the Gecina fund, which held 17% of the shares, in favour of the Porcel family, now the sole shareholder (67% for Michel, 33% for Christine Porcel, Managing Director). Their scope has also been reviewed, with the abandonment of the management of most of the restaurants located in Pierre & Vacances residences. The expiry of the rental leases signals the gradual end of this business model, which marked the start of our activity. These residences, which generated up to 70% of our turnover, now account for just 10%,” continues the CEO.
A WINTER/SUMMER BALANCE
The Saint-Jorioz based restaurant group ended its 2023 financial year (ending 30/09) with consolidated sales of €28m (e31m in 2022), with winter almost equal to summer. Our strategy is to own our establishments in the mountains and rent them in the seaside resorts in summer. In particular, we operate restaurant outlets (between two and six per site) as well as five mini-markets in seven large campsites on the coast,” emphasises Quentin Porcel.
This summer/winter balance is attractive in terms of investment and cash flow. It also has the advantage of ensuring the loyalty of the teams (between 140 and 410 people depending on the period) and of being able to offer them year-round employment. These employees are trained by the Authentis training consulting-audit company, founded in 2004 in Pégomas (06) by Michel Porcel. Almost three quarters (70%) of our managers and chefs come from in house training,” smiles the entrepreneur, who has also launched a small maintenance and renovation company. By the end of 2025, Restoleil will have repaid the PGE (state-guaranteed loan) from which it benefited, and will once again have full investment capacity to pursue its development. Its latest acquisition? A restaurant on the snow front in Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise (73).
In euros, that’s the average cost of a meal in a Restoleil restaurant. Positioned on large volumes, the group is a shareholder and co-founder of the Horeca central purchasing group, dedicated to cafés, hotels and restaurants, for which it accounts for 25% of the business.
DIVERSIFICATION CONTINUES IN THE HOTEL SECTOR
Tempobac, the Porcel family holding company, is, along with the Chalet des Neiges group chaired by Thierry Schoenauer, the main shareholder (originally 90%, now reduced to 75%) in the Base Camp Lodge group (€9m turnover). Based in Tours-en-Savoie, the group invested €15m in the opening of Base Camp Lodge in Bourg-Saint-Maurice in 2020. Since then, it has set up operations in Les Deux-Alpes and Arc 1800, and bought two other establishments, in Albertville (Le Roma) and La Féclaz (Notre-Dame-des-Neiges).
SOPHIE BOUTRELLE
