Five Quebec microbrewers have been waiting for months for the $3 to $5 million owed to them by their distributor, Transbroue. The latter announced, Monday morning, the end of its sales and representation activities.
• Read also: Triani owes him $1.2 million, he slams the door
Its owner – Triani Group – indicates that it wants to “focus solely on distribution”, in a press release.
The newspaper revealed on Saturday that Transbroue has no longer paid its suppliers – the brewers – since the summer.
Pol Brisset, in Joliette, is waiting for a check for $1.2 million. The contract between his brewery L’Alchimiste and Transbroue has been broken since November 8.
Pol Brisset has just slammed the door on his distributor, Transbroue, who stopped paying him and owes him $1.2 million.
photo provided by Pol Brisset
Brasserie Générale is seeking $154,225 from the company in a lawsuit and Brasserie À l’abri de la Tempête is seeking $141,403. Four others are asking for another $339,372.
Even the ex-dragon Nicolas Duvernois knows the song. The creator of Pur Vodka does not think he will see the more than $1 million owed to him by the couple behind Triani, who has owned Transbroue for 15 months.
Tristan Bourgeois Cousineau, 32, and Joannie Couture, 33, have a warlike reputation in the beer world.
They are axing their new acquisition, they plead on Monday, because of the “difficulties experienced by Transbroue” and the “difficult economic context”.
Beer sales are plummeting, they complain.
Four microbreweries were under contract with the distributor at the time of the announcement: Shelton, 4 Origines, L’Espace public and MonsRegius.
The amount of Transbroue’s debt to them is unknown at the moment.
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“They don’t care about the world”
Transbroue summoned all its employees at 8 a.m. Monday morning. Tristan Bourgeois Cousineau has, among other things, declared, according to a reliable source, that he will soon make an offer to the unpaid partners.
Triani responded to the article Newspaper Saturday in a letter titled “Being an entrepreneur in the age of bullying and misinformation.”
“I sincerely deplore that companies have reached the point of washing their dirty linen in the public square and even more […] by attacking individuals directly. It’s vicious and dishonest,” writes Joannie Couture.
All employees of the Triani group – which includes Transbroue – received the letter on Saturday morning. The email also contained the press release published Monday.
The couple is not alone in having expressed a heartfelt cry. A former employee of Transbroue did the same.
“They haven’t even paid our bonuses since their arrival, bonuses that are in our contracts,” confides the man whose identity we have confirmed.
Tristan and Joannie, as they are called, he writes, are ruining Transbroue.
“All this in less than a year! The frustration is at its peak,” says this member of the company’s old guard with disgust.
Regular at the courthouse…
With Transbroue in 2022, Triani also purchased the Glutenberg Group – the Glutenberg, Oshlag and Vox Populi breweries.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec had put up $2.5 million for 20% of the group in 2017, which valued the company of David Cayer and Julien Niquet at $12 million.
At the time of the sale, Triani paid the Caisse ruby on the nail. The 50 small shareholders – including the two founders – have not received everything: Triani still retains a little more than $1 million.
Shareholders have been suing Triani ever since. They get sued in return for providing misleading information.
“They accuse us of having left debts. They just didn’t do their checks. The best thing that can happen is that they go bankrupt,” maintains a former shareholder of Transbroue.
Tristan and Joannie are used to lawsuits, at least 20 SMEs have attacked them in court since 2019. In Saint-Eustache, René Huard has a lot to say on this subject.
“They are victims of EVERYONE. It’s too unfair,” says the owner of the Simple Malt brewery with humor, referring to Caliméro, the charming but unlucky little black chick.
Triani owes him $400,000, he pleads in a three-year-old lawsuit.
“Triani first filed suit against Simple Malt in 2020,” writes Joannie Couture in her letter against “bullying” and “misinformation.”
She ordered beer from Simple Malt in 2019, she said. René Huard would have taken his money without delivering the goods.
Owing yourself $3 million
“It would be so simple if it were true. This is simply false. I have thousands of documents to prove it,” swears the hops enthusiast, nearly choking up at the accusation.
Joannie Couture is sad, she wrote in her Saturday letter. She does not budge: the media and her ex-partners are in the field.
“What saddens me most is how commonplace misinformation has become. We throw figures and accusations everywhere without any embarrassment and without even taking the trouble to check the source,” laments the business leader.
Triani says nothing in its press release about the precise subject of its breweries Glutenberg, Oshlag and Vox Populi and Les 2 Frères, as well as its alcoholic drinks Baron, Octane and Mojo.
“Transbroue’s most important client remains Triani for the representation and distribution of its alcoholic products. Transbroue also has a debt of more than $3 million owed to Triani to date,” the couple wrote.
The income from all the couple’s known businesses is estimated at more than $20 million per year.