Adèle wants France to shine

Julie Bergevin and Gaétan Migneault, vice-president and president of Adèle, here in the City of Light. Their goal is to reach 1,000 franchises in France within five to seven years (source photo Adèle).

(Quebec) In Paris, we wash the parquet, not the floor. With a mop and a bucket, not a mop and a boiler.

When Gaétan Migneault, president of Adèle, gave his first training courses in France, he saw some incredulous faces when he heard his explanations. The Quebec franchisor specializing in home cleaning services had to adapt its vocabulary to make its debut in France.

A "commercial" is not a TV ad, but a person's title. Whereas "How do you want to communicate the brand?" translates here as "How are you going to deploy your advertising?".

"When you're a tourist, you don't measure that. But in business, you have to establish your communication bases quickly," says Mr. Migneault, happy to have been able to count on the help of local partners.

Adèle, born in Quebec in 1994, intends to sell some 15 master franchises in France, each of which will be able to develop a network of 50 to 70 franchises. Every effort is being made to achieve this goal within five to seven years. To date, one is operating in Paris, another in Vannes, Brittany.

Mr. Migneault and his sister-in-arms Julie Bergevin, vice-president of the Quebec group, don't want to rush anything for their company Adèle France, of which they are majority shareholders. "We need to run things in for a while. When we open more franchises, we want the adaptation period to be behind us," says Migneault.

For example, Adèle has carried out a major search for cleaning products in France to meet its quality standards. This is a point of pride for the company. "We do real housekeeping. The surface has to stay clean for as long as possible. We've assessed everything so that we can deal with it upstream, rather than just cleaning it downstream." Mr. Migneault gives an example: after Adèle's visit, the water beads up in the bath and the dirt doesn't stick.

A small addition in France, says^Ms Bergevin, "companies like ours are obliged to do ironing, it's a must". She adds that the mode of transport has also been reviewed. "In Quebec, franchisees travel by car. In France, we had to create caddies, ergonomic transport carts that allow them to climb the steps in the metro and take the bus. They're very familiar with that."

^Ms. Bergevin and Mr. Migneault are delighted to have started out in "one of the most difficult markets", France. They had to get used to the rules of hierarchy. They had to learn to deal with longer, more complex processes.

But apart from these adjustments, the Adèle recipe remains the same as here. The company operates on a fixed-price basis. "At the moment, we're following the example of France, where everyone works by the hour. For Mr. Migneault, this way of charging, so widespread in Quebec, is an aberration that comes from the black market. "A person cleaning a property can't just work three hours. If the floor isn't finished, she's not going to go away."

Adèle franchisees have access to a very conceptualized, measured calculation method. Once decided, the price is always the same, customers know where they stand, and all products are included," says Mr. Migneault.

Adèle also offers turnkey franchises that include incorporation, uniforms, working capital, start-up advertising and longer-term coaching and support.

As for royalties, franchisees pay a percentage of their sales. For Mr. Migneault, all income must be declared at all times. He doesn't believe in fixed monthly fees paid to the franchisor, which can allow all kinds of practices.

Heading for India?

For the future, Adèle is in talks in British Columbia, Alberta and, potentially, Saskatchewan. The company already has some 100 franchises in Quebec and 20 in Ontario.

India is also in our sights, as Adèle has been identified by the BDC as a company with very strong growth potential that could develop there. A turnkey project is in the pipeline.

"But first we want to consolidate Canada and France, where we already are," concludes^Ms Bergevin.

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Who is Adèle?

Founding president Gaétan Migneault explains that the name of his cleaning company comes from his mother. When he went into business in the '90s, she suggested he name his company Adèle, in reference to an old TV series from the '60s featuring the misadventures of the Baxter family and their maid.

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Company profile

 

• Company name: Adèle
• Year of foundation: 1994
• President: Gaétan Migneault. Julie Bergevin is Vice-President and co-founder of the Adèle franchise network.
• Business sector: home cleaning services
• Areas of activity: Quebec, Ontario, France
• Québec sales: approximately $10 million
• Number of employees: approximately 400 in Quebec and Ontario
• Head office: Quebec City
• Website: www.adeleinc.com