Chocolate can taste bitter. The chocolate factory adventure launched 20 years ago by Geneviève Grandbois ends in bankruptcy and a lawsuit for nearly $260,000.
Grandbois Chocolats, which had three stores in Montreal, ceased operations and declared bankruptcy on May 15.
The assets have a market value assessed at $20,000 (machines, tools, unprocessed chocolate, etc.).
Liabilities are currently set at nearly $224,000, but the real number written in red ink will be higher: 37 of the 43 unsecured creditors have not yet quantified their claims. “They should produce their claims by the meeting of creditors,” on June 6, trustee Michel Thibault told The Press.
All these people will go after the secured creditor, the National Bank, which is claiming $100,000.
Mme Grandbois and his company are also being sued for $258,363.96 by the owners of a chocolate factory in LaSalle and a boutique in Montreal, L’Affaire est Chocolat!, who wanted to develop a house brand.
Transaction aborted
According to their lawsuit, in May 2022, chocolatiers Nancy Bastien and Frédéric Fournier had taken over the activities of Grandbois Chocolats under a temporary operating agreement to lead to a transaction. The purchase offer was accepted by Mr.me Grandbois on September 23, 2022. Under the agreement, Mr.me Grandbois was to remain an 8% shareholder in the company and act as a consultant for three years, with the refinanced company ensuring the longevity of the Chocolats Geneviève Grandbois brand.
Relations soured last spring shortly before closing the deal. According to the lawsuit, Mr.me Grandbois wanted last April to make changes to the purchase offer that it had accepted in May 2022, in particular with regard to the use of its name and the non-competition clause; she also wanted to stop being a shareholder.
Reached late Friday afternoon, Mme Grandbois indicated that his version of the facts would be explained in a defense still being prepared by his lawyer and “which will be consistent with the facts”.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Genevieve Grandbois
“There is a legal aspect, so I don’t want to go into too much detail. But actually, I wanted to focus on my strengths, creation and communication, and leave the management and operations aspect to invested partners” and majority, she says. “But it didn’t work. In the end, they pulled out and left the business inoperable. »
The Fournier-Bastien couple has a different version. Mme Bastien affirms on the contrary that the recovery of Grandbois Chocolats was done before the recent disagreement. The couple’s goal, in the hoped-for partnership with Mme Grandbois, was to acquire a majority stake in the Chocolats Geneviève Grandbois brand and the three boutiques while retaining the expertise of the founder.
“In addition to our store, we have a chocolate factory which does sub-contracting for other brands and which works very well”, explains Nancy Bastien.
Grandbois Chocolats was a well-known brand that would have added an in-house product to our activities. But you have to understand that Grandbois Chocolats, when we arrived, was a moribund company, with $780 in the bank and debts of $275,000.
Nancy Bastien, co-owner of L’Affaire est Chocolat!
“But we thought it was worth it, so we injected $60,000 immediately in the spring of 2002, then $30,000 in August; and we managed to obtain financing, which has not been easy for a company that has been loss-making for several years, relates Mr.me Bastien. We put a lot of time and energy into making it work. It was a tough turnaround, but we were getting there: after a year, we were breaking even. »
“Unfortunately, Mr.me Grandbois began asking for changes, including taking the name back after a year and no longer being a partner, the chocolate maker adds. Then, she withdrew the morning of the transaction. »
It’s hard to sell a brand with a name
The other owner, Mr. Fournier, is sorry for the turn of events. “After all the efforts we’ve made, the last thing we want is to pass for the people who shut down Grandbois Chocolats. »
Despite everything that has happened, we would still like an agreement.
Frédéric Fournier, co-owner of L’Affaire est Chocolat!
He says that as of Friday afternoon he had contacted the trustee to see if the brand could be saved in the bankruptcy process.
The syndic Thibault however indicated to The Press that the sale of a brand containing a name in the context of bankruptcy, while not impossible, “is not something that[’il] will consider[t] at first sight “.
Grandbois Chocolats already had six stores and Mme Grandbois had expressed ambitions outside Quebec and even in the United States. But the company had to downsize a few years ago. Only three stores in Montreal had been preserved, at the Atwater market, rue Ontario and rue Saint-Viateur.
Around 2007, Mr.me Grandbois had tried to secure part of its cocoa supply itself, by buying a small plantation in Costa Rica. The performance was a disappointment. This asset does not appear on the company’s balance sheet: “It was not in the name of Grandbois Chocolats. I sold it six or seven years ago,” said Mr.me Bigwood.