Delifrance aims to attract younger customers

“BACK to the basics” with a touch of modernity is among the concepts that Delifrance has embedded in its recent re-branding exercise.

Delifrance International managing director Jean-Manuel Leveque tells StarBizWeek that the rebranding exercise was the third since its inception in 1983.

The focus, according to him, is to bring back the contemporary French bakery and café that merge simplicity, authenticity and traditional bakeries atmosphere together with jovial, trendy and casual Parisian coffee place.

Previously Delifrance was known as Delifrance Bistro. But earlier this year, the company dropped the “Bistro” − which implies heavy hot meals (as opposed to the casual dining concept associated with a cafe).

Despite the change, Leveque explains that Delifrance will continue on with the bistro spirit.

He notes that bistro in French means café, which actually came from a Russian word.

Le Cafe Gourmand

“We want to highlight our fundamental product, which is contemporary French fresh-baked bakery products, as well as injecting a little piece of Paris when dining in Delifrance,” he says, adding that the big trend of eating from France, Le Café Gourmand, was introduced this year.

“Le Café Gourmand is a concept of eating for the art of French living − a concept that comprises ‘bite size’ desserts consisting of three mini patisseries (pastries) - macaroon, mini tarts and mini chouquettes - accompanied by a cup of coffee,” he explains.

He says the products in Le Café Gourmand are smaller because originally French women preferred not to eat pastries but “they actually liked to have it”.

“I see that eating smaller portions is a growing trend in Asia. On top of Le Café Gourmand, we are also introducing mini butter croissant that suitable for afternoon tea,” he says.

Leveque explains the rebranding exercise was done in a timely manner with the aim of responding to current changes and widening its customer base such as by attracting younger customers to Delifrance.

As such, he says, the touch of modernity in its concept is needed to make “back to the basics” concept more interesting and not seen as “old fashioned”.

He adds that to gel both concepts together, one of the efforts made is to offer wider selections in its menu, such as salads and croque monsieur (Viennese bread with béchamel sauce, chicken slice and cheddar cheese), this year.

Also present during the interview is Delifrance (M) Sdn Bhd country manager Melanie Phua who points out that this year the French-style bakery café aims to introduce at about five to 10 new products in Malaysia, a slight jump from its average two to five new product offerings per year.

Phua says the main focus this year is to expand more outlets throughout Malaysia.

She says it is targeting to open 10 more outlets nationwide.

“We just opened an outlet in Queensbay Mall, Penang, in May, making it the 13th Delifrance outlet in Malaysia. For now we already have several outlets that are ready to open for operation by September,” she notes.

The company is on the lookout in several potential areas which include Ipoh, Malacca, the Klang Valley and Negri Sembilan.

At present, she says, there is no Delifrance outlet in East Malaysia yet, but the company is always on a lookout.

Meanwhile, on the rebranding exercise, Phua says that Delifrance Malaysia has been in refurbishing mode since 2010, starting with its Ampang Point outlet.

The last outlet to be refurbished was in Mid Valley Megamall that celebrated Delifrance’s 30th anniversary on Monday.

In conjunction with its 30th anniversary celebration, customers who spend a minimum of RM25 at any Delifrance outlets throughout Malaysia between July 1 and Sept 30, 2013, will be able to enter a lucky draw and stand a chance to win a trip to Paris for two and a one-day French baking class at The Paris Bakery and Patisserie School.

Leveque says the refurbishment in the Delifrance network was done throughout 450 outlets worldwide with most of the design ideas came from France itself.

However, he notes that it is important for Delifrance to mix both French and local culture together to ensure that it stays relevant to the market.

“It is important for us to evolve without losing our real identity; hence we put more effort in our product innovation.

“For example, Malaysians like to put tuna fillings in the croissant but in France, that would not be the case,” he says.

He notes that the uniqueness of Delifrance outlets throughout the world is that it combines its French bakery know-how and close relationship with their French counterparts to keep them ahead in the industry.

He says that people and culture in Delifrance are important factors in defining the brand identity.

“I went to a baking school for a month and every year at least three to four months I will get my hands dirty and try some bread making myself.

“Regardless of what positions, anyone in Delifrance has a little bit of baking skills. This is the kind of thing that we embed as part of our culture here,” he adds.

Delifrance opened its doors in Malaysia in 1990.

Leveque says Malaysia has a vast potential to grow because of its population’s growing affinity towards France-based products as more people are travelling abroad.

Other than that, Delifrance expects to reveal one of its biggest initiatives yet within this year.

It is aiming to partner with celebrity chefs to introduce gourmet sandwiches in its stores.

“We are going to invite celebrity chefs to come up with the signature sandwiches for Delifrance and we are offering these to our customers at affordable prices.

“We actually had done this in Singapore and we hope Malaysia is the next country to experience this,” Leveque says.

He adds that Delifrance International is targeting to penetrate other countries in Asia such as China and Indonesia moving forward.

To date, Delifrance has 450 outlets worldwide, of which 230 are located in Asia.