Guy Gendron

"Inflation, bankruptcy, the closing of factories, unemployment and poverty were painful realities across Canada, and the banks were becoming increasingly cautious. How could the economy be revived when entrepreneurs couldn’t borrow money to carry out their projects? To solve the problem, the Canadian government adopted a program to guarantee loans for small businesses, up to a maximum of $250,000. In effect, the government would act as guarantor in case of default. The project provided concrete support for small businesses as well as a colossal gift for the big Canadian banks. Fortin discovered that the program offered a solution to the financing dilemma faced by the four shareholders. No problem, he told Bouchard: We’ll split the company into separate units and apply for small business loans. The loans would be guaranteed by the government, so the banks would have no cause to refuse them. Following the advice of the Banque Canadienne Nationale, the group chose a different institution to finance its growth: the Bank of Montreal."

"Provigo, a Francophone-led grocery store chain that was experiencing massive growth in Quebec, also made him an offer: supervisor for a chain of mid-sized grocery stores under the name Provibec, a kind of hybrid of Perrette stores and supermarkets. The position didn’t seem to offer much in the way of challenge, so he declined. Two days later, however, Provigo came back with a new offer. Would he be interested in launching a new store concept within the Provigo family, with the unique feature of being open morning to night, seven days a week? In short, they asked him to help build a banner—Provi-Soir—that would mount an attack against none other than Perrette. “I was the only person in Quebec who had the experience. And they were ready to pay for it. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”"

"The task didn’t require much in the way of thought, but it had one great advantage for a single young man: The workers in charge of packaging were all female, and most of them were young. Thus it was a matter of some consternation for him when he found out he was being promoted to the shipping department, cutting off his contact with the young ladies. Despite the salary boost the position provided, he decided to quit the factory for another with a predominately female staff: a clothing manufacturer. Once again, his intellectual abilities were not what led to him being hired. During the job interview, the supervisor selected him after comparing the size of his biceps against that of another candidate. They were looking for a man capable of lifting heavy spools with his arms, to feed the noisy mechanical weavers."

"“Those are management theories that are totally void of sensitivity,” his human resources manager responded. So what should be done with the least productive workers? “We’ll put them in the right place, where they’ll learn to be productive,” Plourde told Bouchard. It was the price to pay to obtain loyalty from employees, rather than obedience; long-term commitment, rather than mere submission."

"The example came from the very top. Bouchard had personally reproached employees “caught in the act” of working too many hours. One night when he passed by his office to pick up a file, Bouchard found an attorney, recently hired by Couche-Tard’s legal department, busy preparing a contract. He lectured him at length. “You have a family, a wife and kids. What are you still doing here at this hour? Go home!” he ordered. The young employee explained that it was normal for lawyers to work long hours, and that he’d been taught to stay late in the private firms he’d worked in before coming to Couche-Tard. “To me, it isn’t normal,” Bouchard responded. “You have to have a balanced life to be able to reach your potential. I’m paying you to have clear ideas. Go home to your family, and don’t let me see you in the office this late at night again.”"

"the four men had come to a conclusion: They should stay the course. The main reason, in Fortin’s view as a former banker, was that no bank would dare cut off funding for a company with a cash flow of $3 million. “We should continue operating,” he said. But they should also roll up their sleeves, he added, and strive to improve performance."

"Typically, says Bouchard, the stronger a company becomes, the more it tends to impose its procedures on all of its components. Couche-Tard’s strength lies in taking almost the opposite tack. “Our DNA is the local business model,” Bouchard says. “It’s the most important element. It’s what allowed us to build everything we’ve built.”"

"Taking inspiration from the coup they had pulled off in the company’s infancy—the purchase of their first 11 Couche-Tard stores in Quebec City—the four leaders managed to finance the transaction by leveraging the real estate assets owned by their target for purchase. They found an American buyer for all the buildings owned by Johnson Oil, and Couche-Tard would become their renters. The money they raised from this sale of assets was sufficient for an American bank to agree to extend them a loan that would cover the balance of the purchase cost without requiring additional collateral."

"“They both said the deal was the best thing that ever happened to them in their career, and they encouraged me to give it a try.” Hannasch asked them why they thought so. The answer: because Couche-Tard management did what they had said they would do, they told him. They invested in the stores, took care of their people, worked to grow the business. And, they told him, since the company had acquired Silcorp, Couche-Tard’s management hadn’t broken its word—not once. “They’re four very humble guys with a vision of growing and doing the right thing,” said the two men, who added that in the business world, that’s “very refreshing.”"

"The stores, he said, operate in an environment that they don’t completely control. Their region could be affected by an economic slowdown or, inversely, by inflationary factors or by intense competition. “They deliver the profits that they’re capable of delivering,” he explained; and that’s why the people who are in the best position to define their profitability objectives are managers and their supervisors. That’s where the projections for each division should start. Such an operation obviously requires more work than a decree handed down from the top. In fact, the consultation process would have to be launched in January to be ready for April. “It was a complete education for people in operations and the stores, to empower them and teach them open-book management,” says Bouchard."