A quarter of a century later, the former coach, now 61 years old, is the general director of a club co-chaired by Gérard and Denis Le Saint, which is a surprise guest in the new format Champions League, and is there undefeated after three days. Swiss international Edimilson Fernandes’ team beat the Austrians of Sturm Graz then RB Salzburg before forcing Granit Xhaka’s Bayer Leverkusen to a draw. She will continue on Wednesday against Sparta Prague at 9 p.m.
Behind this sporting success, there is that of the Le Saint group, a giant in the distribution of fruit and vegetables, with 900 million euros in turnover for 2,800 employees. Its ultra-modern head office of 15,000 m22at the entrance to the Brest urban area, contrasts with the hangar, the potato field and the Citroën van thanks to which the company was founded by the parents of Gérard and Denis Le Saint in the 1950s.
“My men” in the kitchen
The key to development? “An original mode of operation with a very broad delegation of power,” analyzes Gilles Falc’hun, 77, president of the Sill Entreprises holding company, and childhood friend. They let it happen and they demand accountability. It’s motivating for executives who have the power to act.” “They each have their own field and are complementary,” adds their sister Catherine Junca, 55, who manages a subsidiary of the group, in which her daughter and the children of Gérard and Denis also work.
Work and family are closely linked among these grandchildren of Breton farmers. “It’s what rocked us throughout our childhood,” describes Catherine Junca. The kitchen was the return place for the drivers, whom my mother called “my men”. “They all arrived, one after the other, to bring back their crates,” remembers the eldest Gérard, 63, with a readily cheeky tone. And obviously, my mother paid them a hit. And sometimes we waited for food, and it took a long time.” Not disappointed, the two brothers only left the family business for short studies (“that’s enough for us to know how to count,” says Gérard), before returning to work there.
In the 1990s, the arrival of mass distribution purchasing centers caused the company to falter, depriving it of several customers. “We were young, we wanted to fight and we didn’t give up,” says Denis, 60 years old. We went looking for customers further afield.” The group then diversified into catering and seafood and bought out its competitors, in Brittany then in the Great West. After 100 takeover files, the group now has more than 50 subsidiaries.
New disputed stadium
It was in 2012 that the empire extended to sport, when the two brothers were asked to take over the Brest women’s handball team, in financial difficulty. Finalist in the Champions League in 2021, leader of the French Championship this year, the BBH today has one of the largest budgets in France in women’s sport. “If they were not there, there would be no high-level sport in Brest,” assures Eric Ledan, 50, commercial director of the BBH, who salutes the “bonhomie” and “humility” of his bosses. “Nice guys,” says Gilbert Thomas, 66, a retired prison guard, who sweated with them in the Bourg-Blanc football team. It’s a passion. They have always lived through football.
In 2016, Denis took charge of Stade Brestois and the club returned to Ligue 1 three years later. The brothers then embarked on a project for a new stadium on the outskirts of the city. This arouses controversy. If Glen Dissaux, leader of Brest ecologists, recognizes that the Le Saint brothers have “placed competent people at Stade Brestois”, he attacks “an ecological aberration”, wasteful of public funds. The enclosure with around 15,000 places, for which the building permit was submitted in June, will not see the light of day for several years, the time for the investigation, the management of possible appeals, then obviously the construction where applicable. In the meantime, Edimilson Fernandes and his teammates are playing their European matches at Roudourou in Guingamp, around a hundred kilometers from home.
