Does your company want to grow, diversify its offering, and pierce new markets? Solo fruit, Bilboquet, Essence Glacier, Hudson, and Lambert all had these same ambitions. This is what motivated these five competing ice cream companies to unite under the banner of Top Glaciers. Pierre Morin is one of the company’s partners and he shares his take on the challenges and benefits of this collaboration.
The reasons to unite under one banner
- To have one plant that is efficient, modern, and flexible.
- Increase production capacity.
- Make it easier to develop brands, while ensuring a presence in large-scale distribution.
- Implement high standards of quality in order to obtain the certifications necessary to pierce new markets.
The challenges
Getting employees to join
Major communications efforts were deployed to get every entity’s employees involved in this project. “Some believed they were in a good place in their small world. It took a lot of meetings before everyone was finally on the same page,” said Mr. Morin.
Training resources
By acquiring a more efficient plant, Top Glaciers invested in new equipment. However, teams needed to be trained before they could use this equipment and employees had to adapt to these changes. In doing so, they gained new skills and Top Glaciers benefited from a significant competitive advantage.
The benefits
Top Glaciers’ new production capacity quickly piqued the interest of foreign investors. The group was able to diversify its service offering and pierce new markets in Canada and the U.S.
According to Mr. Morin, how do you make this kind of change a successful one? By being flexible and ready to make the necessary compromises.
This video was produced in collaboration with Services Québec de l’Île-de-Montréal and the Ministère de l’Économie, des Sciences et de l’Innovation as part of the Acquistion initiative, co-presented by Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Osler Lawyers.