This is one of the most important social plans of recent months, after that of the textile brand Camaïeu in September. The Lyon commercial court has placed the food delivery company Place du marché (formerly Toupargel) and its sister companies, Eismann and Touparlog, in compulsory liquidation, resulting in the loss of 1,900 jobs.
The court had given itself 48 hours on Wednesday to render its deliberation concerning this company based in Civrieux-d’Azergues (Rhône) and had justified this delay “the importance of the file and the number of employees of the group”, according to Wafaa Kohily, the secretary (CGT) of the social and economic committee (CSE). That day, she assured that there was “no hope of recovery”. No buyer had submitted an offer despite the interest shown for a time by the discount brand Tazita.
A very rapid deterioration of the situation
“Our priority is to work on the preparation of this judicial liquidation and to support the employees as well as possible with the State services so that they bounce back as quickly as possible”, had affirmed for his part the president of the company. Brieuc-Fruchon.
The market place situation deteriorated very quickly: the group had requested its placement in safeguard proceedings at the end of October, then had been placed in receivership at the end of November 2022.
After its takeover, Toupargel was renamed Place du Marché in 2021, with the idea of significantly extending its offer beyond frozen food, towards fresh products and groceries. Some products distributed came from the same suppliers as Grand Frais. The project also aimed to accelerate online sales, while the company built its model on telephone sales. But this strategy failed, fueling a drop in sales, which fell from 271 million euros in 2017 to 200 million in 2021-2022.