Succeeding Gérard Gillet, the new director, since July 3, from Café le lion is none other than Lucas Laravine, former head of commercial and marketing development for the brand and architect of the overhaul of its ranges. A strong signal that Café le lion is maintaining the course of its renewal strategy in the brand new premises that the company now occupies in the ZAC Roland-Hoareau in Pierrefonds.
A slight smell of coffee has been hanging over the ZAC Roland-Hoareau for several weeks. Exactly since the new Café le lion factory came into operation. The brand is making a strong comeback in stores following a move and industrial reinstallation which took a little longer than expected, but which today allows the Reunionese roaster to approach the future in considerably improved conditions. The superb and proud logo displayed on the facade of the new factory says a lot about the journey since the Port premises., where the company lived its first five decades. Today, we come by car to photograph this symbol of renewal! A symbol also of the warm welcome that the South gives to the Reunionese coffee brand. Café le lion is the first consumer products company to set up in the ZAC Roland-Hoareau. The date of the official inauguration has not yet been set, but “customers, suppliers, partners : everyone is looking forward to visiting the new factory. It’s a chance to experience such a moment, and to have seen the evolution of the brand and the leap forward that this new building now represents”, welcome Gérard Gillet and Lucas Laravine.
Café le lion makes its heritage flourish
Imagination remains more powerful than ever at Café le lion. In office since 2020, Gérard Gillet entrusts the reins of the company to his former head of commercial development and marketing, that is to say to the actor at the heart of the design and implementation of the strategy of renewal of the ranges and the image of Café le lion. While remaining attached to the family clientele of the ground, which has constituted its basis since its beginnings, the popular Reunionese coffee brand has made its revolution to address younger generations. These last years, Café le lion has attacked all segments of coffee — ground, grains, capsules and pods — by offering new and attractive products in packaging radically different from the usual codes of major imported brands. Coffee is no longer the only specialty of Café le lion, whose logo is also displayed on hot chocolates, teas and coffees with milk. This change is underway and “many things will still change in the Café le lion offering in the next two years”, promet Lucas Laravine.
No break in new releases
Having very quickly found its consumers, the brand took over the initiative from its new industrial base. Upcoming launches announced : a third reference, Ground Cinnamon, will join the Moulu Geranium and Moulu Vanille in the Tradition Flavored range. “Our Moulu Cinnamon was unanimously approved by the panel of consumers who tested it”, specifies Lucas Laravine. In the segment of the future, because the most ecological and economical, roasted beans, Café le lion expands its clientele to lovers of pure Arabica by welcoming a sixth reference of 100% Arabica beans. In the capsule segment, the range of Nespresso Café le lion compatibles is enriched with two strong flavors, vanilla and caramel, and the brand switches to aluminum for all its capsules.
Coffee at the end of a meal at the restaurant
The year 2023 will also go down in the annals of the brand for its action outside the home. Towards young people, around ten Café le lion coffee shop corners have opened across the island since the start of the year. The next one will open in the G la Dalle restaurant in Saint-Denis. For the young, Café le lion has designed an exclusive range of five gourmet recipes (hot chocolate, cappuccino, coffee with milk, etc.) with funny Creole names. For adults, the Reunion brand focuses on quality to gain market share in catering, of which it already holds around 10%. For asset, a new range of coffees for the end of a meal, served in colored cups with its logo which will cause a sensation! The CHR strategy currently being deployed is carefully considered, based on a detailed market study, as was the rejuvenation and diversification of the general public ranges, which are a success.
CONTINUITY IN CHANGE
For Gérard Gillet, “everything is aligned for a new cycle, but the appointment of Lucas Laravine is a guarantee of continuity. It rewards the work and commitment with which he has worked in recent years to drive and bring about these changes.. We are smugglers. Our responsibility is to perpetuate this beautiful Reunion heritage brand by successfully transforming it into the future to make it a brand that is both family and young”. “All my thanks go to Gérard Gillet for his contribution to the company and the team, says Lucas Laravine. He created a strong and united team. The excellent social climate reigning here has a lot to do with the spirit and capacity for innovation that characterizes Café le lion. We will continue on this path and create new products made by and for Reunionese people and which speak to today’s Reunionese people.. This new factory will allow us to do more and better. »
GÉRARD GILLET AT ST MAMET
Director of SICRE from September 2020 to July 2023, Gérard Gillet joins St Mamet metropolis, the French number one in canned fruit. He takes the position of sales and marketing director of St Mamet Distribution in Nîmes. Employing 200 employees, St Mamet is backed by a cooperative of 130 arborists. Having modernized and strengthened its industrial capacities, the company is in full development and is pursuing new ambitions on the French and export markets.
THREE MINUTES TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING
Three minutes, this is the length of the film which will be broadcast on television at the end of the year, in the cinema and on the Web to retrace the history of the Café le lion brand, since the founding at the Port of the Industrial Society of Cafés of La Réunion (SICRE) in 1966, until its current transformation and its new installation in Pierrefonds in 2023. This film aims to further anchor the brand in its territory and demonstrate to the general public that, like an average person, the life of a brand is tumultuous, full of surprises, and that to survive and succeed, she must not let go of anything. A film whose production was entrusted to a filmmaker from Reunion.
