Jumbo Groep Holding has reached agreement with the trustees of La Place on the acquisition of La Place restaurants for an undisclosed sum.
Jumbo will take over all assets, service and the stand alone branches while continuing to run the business under the La Place brand. Jumbo is still in discussion with the trustees about a possible restart of operations of La Place branches in the V&D department stores.
According to Frits van Eerd, CEO of Jumbo Groep Holding, La Place is a great asset to the Jumbo group: "La Place fits perfectly with our ambition to offer our customers the very best in food and to exceed their expectations it. We have great admiration and respect for the La Place formula, the organisation and its employees. We share the same passion for good, fresh and healthy food and for our customers. Jumbo and La Place are both strong brands and can go further into the market of food. "
Bart van den Nieuwenhof, managing director of La Place, welcomed the acquisition by Jumbo: "A better outcomes and better perspective we did not dare to dream. Jumbo and La Place are highly complementary to each other and will really be mutually reinforcing. After times of uncertainty, I now look confidently towards our common future. "
Jumbo intends for the vast majority of stand-alone subsidiaries of La Place (La Place Restaurants, Food, Cafes, Express and Event Catering) to continue operating under the La Place brand. Around five to 10 branches are likely to close after the acquisition.
Jumbo Group will now look to strengthen La Place and Jumbo mutually, looking at exchange of modules, products and concepts for customers. Van Eerd sees a lot of synergies in the combination of La Place and Jumbo: "The traditional separation between supermarkets and food catering is disappearing. Our customers want to choose where, when and what they eat. New developments such as convenience 'eat it or take it' concepts, but also e-commerce, offer plenty of opportunities to play better here on in. While it is still too early to be specific here, it is clear to us that there are a lot of opportunities.”
