Dutch foodservice retailer Sligro is merging its Dutch and Belgian foodservice into a single structure. As a result, managing director Belgium Rudi Petit-Jean is leaving the company.
Structural change
The reorganisation will remove the current management positions for both countries, a good source told RetailDetail. Specifically, the operation means that managing director Belgium Rudi Petit-Jean will have to leave the company. However, according to our information, director Netherlands Dries Bögels would remain active within the company, as commercial director.
Petit-Jean confirmed the news to our editor: “It is a structural change. I will remain in office until the end of September to ensure a proper handover”, but would not comment further. After moving from Gamma to Sligro Belgium in 2017, Petit-Jean was tasked with building up Sligro’s Belgian business following its acquisition of ISPC. He opened the Antwerp flagship a year later, despite a difficult process to obtain permits.
The managing director’s report cart looks rather mixed: Petit-Jean has succeeded in giving Sligro the number one position in the Belgian market it aspired to from the start after acquiring nine Metro shops, but profits were under pressure last year. Analysts point to investments, rising costs and a difficult SAP integration that was reportedly still not fully completed.
