Etablissements Lacquemant

Based in Lille, Etablissements Lacquemant is a 6th generation French family business dating back to 1821. The waffles are the culinary specialty of the business, based on the recipe of the great-great-grandfather which is as successful today as it was almost two centuries ago. In addition to waffles, the business offers sweets products ranging from traditional pancakes and doughnuts to artisanal ice creams with seasonal flavors all made with natural and local ingredients. The family business is currently undergoing succession in a context of increasingly regulatory constraints and evolving customers’ needs and habits, which require an adaptation of the business traditional processes. In addition to the challenges, the case presents the main strengths of the family in business which contributed to build its resilience over generations, namely family cohesion, social engagement, and alignment of vision and values.Keywords: communication, family cohesion, succession, values.

This case was prepared by Rania Labaki, from EDHEC Business School (France), as a partial output of the Artisan Project.

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