Founded in 1961, the Petiot family business was acquired a few months ago. Its buyer, the industrialist Cadetel, is a company specializing in shuffleboard games and trophies. Initially, Cadelet was only a reseller for Petiot, but things have evolved, and this new partnership should allow Petiot table football to bounce back by taking advantage of new communication and production methods.
Petiot and Cadelet table football: "a win-win partnership"
Purists can rest assured, Petiot didn't sell his company at random! Over the course of discussions, the manufacturer and its new buyer were able to identify the problems linked to the lack of investment in the sales force and in communication. Cadetel's co-managers, Francky Coutaud and Romain Brochard, explain that they already recognized the problem in 2016:
"We couldn't afford to sell without communication support. We could have invested time and money in advertising. But it would have benefited other retailers... in other words, our competitors!"
New partners, new premises
The two partners see this acquisition as nothing other than a win-win partnership. A former carpentry workshop was even purchased to allow Petiot to rebuild its health and expand. "The manufacturing process had to be changed. We had to move to an industrial process," explains the Cadetel giants.
Petiot therefore left its historic site last spring to settle a few kilometers further away in the Hermitage area. The former carpentry workshop, a 900m² building adapted to current standards, should easily accommodate the €200,000 worth of new equipment and the two additional employees recently hired.
Reactions at Petiot
For Alain Petiot, director since 2001, the workload had become too heavy for him to handle alone. The acquisition by Cadetel should allow him to focus solely on production:
It's a big burden off my shoulders. I thought about it day and night. In this case, you don't sleep well. I managed everything: customers, sales, workshop... I made all the final decisions.
In 2008, in the midst of the crisis, the company had to lay off staff but never considered selling at the time. Today, the goal is to go from 400 table football and pool tables per year to 600. Cadetel intends to target communities, businesses, and hotels to reach a new clientele. After all, as Franky Coutaud reminds us: "[Table football] is no longer in bars, but is coming into homes!"
We can also expect Cadetel's managers to expand the selection of entry-level models with more affordable prices (in the style of the Petiot familial table football?). Other than that, not much should change. After all, Alain Petiot will still be in charge of production.
