Sébastien Larvor, Gautier franchisee, with Annie Dahirel, layout consultant. Photo DR
Becoming a boss allowed him to realize his dream. With one side of the coin that he completely assumes: having an elastic schedule and working very hard. But when love, we don’t count…
A healthy training
“I’m living a great adventure!” Angélique Gascoin, now CEO of the L’Onglerie network (115 stores, 280 employees), is a former franchisee full of dreams and ambition.
In 2005, this salaried accountant, simple client of a nail salon in Nantes, fell under the spell of the profession. “I made a total retraining by launching myself into entrepreneurship, says the young 42-year-old manager. As I was totally self-taught, the L’Onglerie chain offered me nine weeks of training and it was gone! I gave myself a salary after a year.”
One, two, three, four stores… to end up CEO of the group! “It was a long journey, but what a reward!” rejoices the business manager.
Angélique Gascoin, CEO of L’Onglerie. Credit: SP
A couple story
“We have always done everything together with my wife, and in perfect equality!” Matthieu and Stéphanie Metzger, in their fifties, opened their Pizza Cozy restaurant in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, almost a year ago. These very hard workers – “we haven’t taken a day off since the opening last May” – found their happiness at the Franchise Fair.
“We had already been multi-franchised Monceau Fleurs for twenty years, with five stores, and it was going very well. But we wanted to change and embark on a new adventure, says Matthieu. One of the founders of Pizza Cozy ‘alpagated’ us in the aisles, Porte de Versailles, and he was super-convincing. Pizza Cozy, it’s only fresh, handmade, and with essentially French products”, he says proudly.
Matthieu and Stéphanie Metzger, Pizza Cozy franchisees. Credit: SP
“A favorite!”
“What made me decide was to be independent and autonomous, while having the support of a group.” Before becoming an Yves Rocher franchisee in the Paris region, Marie-Christine Marques, 48, spent her entire professional career with a branch in the field of aesthetics and cosmetics, ending up as regional director.
Two years ago, the future franchisee put her career in question. And the desire to do something for oneself takes shape. “From the start, I thought of franchising and went to Franchise Expo in March 2019.” It is on the stand of Yves Rocher that his visit starts… and it is a crush! “It’s a sign that I already valued and the first exchanges went very well.”
Marie-Christine Marques, Yves Rocher franchisee. Credit: SP
Marie-Christine, after a long interview with the brand, finally became a franchisee by opening her point of sale in June 2020 in Brétigny-sur-Orge. The brand then took over “with a training and integration program which is incredible in terms of its content and its diversity”.
Interview by Jacques Hennen
