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Le Duff America Formed to Manage North America's Second Largest Bakery-Caf

By: Bruegger's Bagels |  1,014 Shares     2,297 Reads

New organization better positions la Madeleine Country French Café, Bruegger’s Bagels, Timothy’s World Coffee and Brioche Dorée for future growth, enhanced guest experience

Montréal, Québec, Oct. 7, 2011 – Recognized as the second largest bakery-café company worldwide, French-based Groupe Le Duff has announced the creation of Le Duff America to manage its North American café brands, which includes la Madeleine Country French Café, Bruegger’s Bagels, Timothy’s World Coffee and Brioche Dorée. The new organization will allow its North American brands to combine their expertise, maximize synergies and better position them for future growth. Le Duff America will serve as the umbrella organization and provide overall expertise and support in areas, such as human resources, purchasing, finance, franchise development and real estate, allowing the bakery-cafés to focus on delivering an extraordinary experience for their guests.

In addition, Le Duff America also named its new leadership team, which will be led by co-CEOs, Claude Bergeron and Jim Greco. Members of the new executive team include:

• Claude Bergeron, chairman and co-chief executive officer – Bergeron has been serving as the chairman and CEO for Groupe Le Duff’s American operations and will share responsibility for the strategic direction of Le Duff America with Greco. In this new role, Bergeron will oversee operations, product development, marketing, finance, IT, human resources and legal aspects of the company.
• Jim Greco, co-chief executive officer – Greco previously served as the CEO for Bruegger’s. In his new role, Greco will oversee purchasing, franchising and real estate.
• Phil Costner, president/chief operating officer of la Madeleine and chief brand strategy officer of LDA – Costner has a dual role of executing a multi-brand strategy across all of the bakery-café concepts for Le Duff America, while also leading la Madeleine as president and chief operating officer.
• Mike Clock, chief financial officer – Clock will continue to serve as CFO for la Madeleine and has also been appointed CFO for Le Duff America.
• Harry Martin, chief administrative officer and general counsel – Martin will continue his role as general counsel for la Madeleine and has also been appointed as CAO and general counsel for Le Duff America and its subsidiaries.
• Scott Berkman, chief purchasing officer – Berkman, who was the vice president of purchasing, manufacturing and distribution at Bruegger's, has been appointed as the CPO for Le Duff America.
• David Austin, president of Bruegger’s – Austin will continue as president of Bruegger's.
• Jeff Dillon, vice president – As a vice president, Dillon will oversee Le Duff America’s Canadian Threecaf brands.

"The creation of this vibrant new organization will combine the deep expertise of Groupe Le Duff and these incredible brands, strengthening our leadership in North America’s bakery-café segment and, most importantly, delivering an enhanced experience for our guests," said Bergeron. "I’m pleased to have Jim Greco by my side as we take Le Duff America and its brands to the next level."

"I'm excited to have the opportunity to lead Le Duff America in partnership with Claude Bergeron and bring together the strengths of Bruegger’s, la Madeleine, Timothy’s World Coffee and Brioche Dorée," said Greco. "Through this strategic move, we can maximize synergistic opportunities and be better positioned for future growth. We see the largest growth potential in franchising. We just launched la Madeleine’s franchise program, and we plan to franchise all of our brands across North America."

About Groupe Le Duff

Groupe Le Duff is a global bakery and restaurant company headquartered in Rennes, France. With $1.6 billion in total sales, 1,100+ restaurants and bakery-cafés globally and a presence in more than 50 countries around the world, Groupe Le Duff and its North American Subsidiary, Le Duff America, Inc., operate under the brand names Ristorante del Arte, Brioche Dorée, la Madeleine Country French Cafés, Au Pain Doré, Bruegger’s Bagels and Timothy’s World Coffee as well as others. In addition to its restaurant operations, Groupe Le Duff is also a major supplier of frozen breads and pastries to the wholesale market through subsidiaries Bridor Inc., with four plants supplying Canada and the United States, and Bridor France, which supplies the French and European markets. For more information, please visit www.groupeleduff.com/en.

About la Madeleine Country French Cafés

La Madeleine® Country French Café owns and operates 60 cafes in Texas, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Louisiana, offering French country cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For more information, visit www.lamadeleine.com.

About Bruegger's Enterprises, Inc.

Bruegger's Enterprises, Inc. is a leader in the fast casual restaurant segment. The company operates over 300 Bruegger’s Bakeries in North America (including four co-branded locations). In addition, it operates 137 Timothy’s World Coffee, mmmuffins and Michel’s Bakery Cafés in Canada through a wholly owned subsidiary, Threecaf Brands Canada, Inc. For more information, please visit www.brueggers.com, www.timothyscafes.com,

www.michelsbakerycafe.com, www.mmmuffins.com, or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/brueggers.

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