Frédéric Aldebert (42) originally hails from Montpellier. Since 2004, he has been CEO of Convergence Achats, which is tasked with sourcing fresh produce for the Flo Group and Euro Disney restaurants.

“My grandfather was a wine-grower, so I’ve inherited this anchored attachment to the earth, to wine, to nature, and to good food.” After management studies at Paris-Dauphine University, in 1986 he completed his military service at the Ministry of Defense, in the procurements department of the officers’ mess. This was to trigger a career in the restaurant business. “I used to go to Rungis, which gave me the experience I needed to join the Flo group as an operational auditor. Flo ran five restaurants at the time, but quickly progressed to become a family corporation listed on the stock exchange and boasting a portfolio of over 150 establishments. I then joined the executive catering management team for Printemps, for which Flo was franchisee. I then went on to manage Raynier-Marchetti, the renowned traiteur services bought out by Flo, before joining the Neuilly headquarters where I was given the mission of operational auditor for the entire Flo group, as well as development responsibilities. Flo was created by Jean-Paul Bucher, who was universally respected in the business. He left his native Alsace at just 14 to work in the Paris restaurants under Lucas Carton, and created the Flo Group, which now counts 150 establishments, a 500-strong workforce, and 4 brands. The Group shares its business between Paris, Greater Paris and the rest of France, and holds franchised outlets in the Middle East, the UK and Spain, among others.

In 1995, Flo won its bid for the contract assigned by Euro Disney to manage the village resort’s restaurants. This was a new challenge for us, due to the concepts and themes involved, the American culture reigning over the site. In 2002, Executive Chairman of FLO Dominique Giraudier partnered with Marc Robineau, Vice-President of Euro Disney tasked with catering management, in setting up the company Convergence Achats, at Rungis market. The aim was to bulk the fresh produce purchases of the two groups, which together were serving 100,000 covers daily. Convergence Achats employs twenty staff. Twelve are buyers, backed up by a quality control specialist, a logistics manager and six administrative staff. The company manages €160 M per year of purchases covering fruit and vegetables, seafood, beverages, groceries, dairy products, etc. totaling 11,000 individual references. In parallel, we have opened up our know-how to a series of major groups and franchise chains such as George V Restauration, Léon de Bruxelles, Cojean, Hôtel du Louvre, Vin et Marée, and others. Rungis is our best sourcing solution for fresh produce (90% of our total procurement volumes) due to its quality, food safety and all-round drive.