Gastronomy represents a particularly attractive sector in France, which is the European leader in terms of investments in this field, with FoodTech start-ups having received 227 million euros of investment in 2018. In this buoyant context and having cooperated on various projects led by SKEMA entrepreneurs, Emergence Concepts and SKEMA Ventures are going to work together.
Emergence Concepts is a consulting agency that supports entrepreneurs in the catering industry, from the creation of the concept to the rollout of the brand as a franchise. A member of the Venture Family, SKEMA’s peer-to peer community, Emergence Concepts will identify, within the business school, students and graduates who do not come directly from the catering sector but are project leaders from various backgrounds who wish to start a venture in the food or catering sector.
Those chosen will be supported through four key stages involving the creation, installation, operation and then duplication of their project. They will benefit from the skills ecosystem within the agency: experts, suppliers, technical partners, restaurateurs, etc. For four months, they will work to define their concept, draw up a business plan, prepare a technical feasibility study, and seek funding.
For the “creation” phase, Emergence Concepts has developed Emergence Cube, a one-of-a-kind incubation programme aimed at project leaders wishing to create and prepare an innovative and replicable restaurant concept. “Our goal is to offer unique support to all the SKEMA entrepreneurs wishing to work in the food and catering sector for the long term,” announced Alexandre Roudeau, founder of the Emergence Concepts agency.
Philippe Chéreau, director of SKEMA Ventures, reckoned that “By combining our skills to extend cooperation that had already been initiated on various projects, SKEMA Ventures and Emergence Concepts are offering unique support to SKEMA’s catering and foodtech entrepreneurs.”
Some FoodTech success stories made in SKEMA:
Père et Fish: Winners of the Bourse Badoit award and the Pépite France competition, they quickly caught the eye of chef Thierry Marx. Charles Cagnac, Antony Giordano, Ava Maisani Casanova and Alexandre Rafaitin, young graduates of SKEMA Business School’s MSc Entrepreneurship & Innovation programme, created “Père et Fish” in Paris: the first “fast-casual”, gastronomic and environmentally-responsible fish burger restaurant.
Pokawa: Co-founded in 2017 in Paris by Maxime Buhler and Samuel Carré, graduates of the SKEMA MSc in Digital Marketing programme, the Pokawa chain is specialised in poke bowls, Hawaiian dishes based on rice with fruit, vegetables and fish. In addition to its Parisian restaurant, Pokawa has opened 16 self-owned establishments in Nantes, Lille, Nice, Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux and Brussels. The brand also opened to franchising in 2019. There are already three franchised branches, in Marne-la-Vallée, Clermont-Ferrand and Limoges. Two others are planned in Rennes and Dijon in early 2020.
Ratatouïe: Preparation and delivery of healthy and organic meals for babies in London. Founder: Hélène Piquion, a graduate of the SKEMA Grande Ecole programme.
Emily and the cool kids: Franchised cookies and coffee shops, created by Céline Molière, a graduate of the SKEMA Grande Ecole programme.
Melobowls: A Hawaiian poke bowl restaurant in Bordeaux founded by Lauriane Despaux, a graduate of the SKEMA MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation programme.
SKEMA Ventures
Emergence Concepts