Text: Marco Polisson – Exclusive. Will serenity once again permeate the timeless salons of Léon de Lyon? After 4 years of a nightmarish cruise, the mythical establishment on rue Pleney and its annexes have finally found a new home port.
In October 2018, Jean-Paul Lacombe announced the takeover of its restaurant Léon de Lyon by restaurateurs Fabien Chalard and Julien Geliot as well as the comedian Laurent Gerra. This unnatural association did not last four years. After a few months of a state of grace, the differences of opinion between the associates turned into outright hostility. In question, in particular, the expansionist strategy and the bulimia of the Chalard-Geliot couple who, since their return from Miami, have multiplied acquisitions in the four corners of the metropolis, ostensibly displaying their desire to own 50 businesses on the horizon of their 50 years. !
In 2018, the new partners and Jean-Paul Lacombe during the honeymoon…
This arms race in which they want to compete with Benjamin Lavorel and Aurelien Liveneau knows many failures, with promises to purchase not honored (Le Layon, 33 Cité) which lead their two authors to court… with convictions on arrival. At the same time, the atmosphere deteriorates a little more every day in the Léon de Lyon, the flagship of the Les Gastronomistes group. Departures and resignations follow one another. Laurent Gerra cannot condone these excesses and decides to withdraw, claiming from the couple the amount invested in 2018, i.e. a 7-figure sum.
Do everything to avoid bankruptcy and the dismantling of the group
But the duo which has, in the meantime, embarked on the adventure with a couple from the Jura to bail out the group’s cash (up to 600,000 euros) is unable to repay it. It is therefore within the framework of a conflicting procedure that Laurent Gerra wins his case at the end of July 2022: failing to receive cash, he recovers Léon de Lyon, Pléthore and Balthazar (rue Mercière – Lyon 2nd), the Chanteclair in the Croix-Rousse, the Cave next door and the Mamma (rue Pléney – Lyon 1er), not forgetting the three bakeries Pomponette. For their part, the Jura residents are allocated the Salmon Shop and the Mère Cottivet.
Paul-Maurice Morel, journalist Michel Cymes and Jérôme Bocuse at the inauguration of the Brasserie du Louvre, in Paris, in September 2019
Laurent Gerra, whose schedule as a comedian and showman is already full, has no intention of taking himself for what he is not, that is to say a restaurant owner. Nor does he intend to drop these establishments to which his wife Christine and are very attached to him. Hence the idea of approaching Jerome Bocuse and Paul Maurice Morel, bosses of the Bocuse Breweries. After discussing with Jean-Paul Lacombe, the son of Mr. Paul agrees to take up this new challenge and to support Laurent Gerra on a daily basis in the management of the restaurants.
“The objective of this alliance is to preserve, over time, the culinary heritage of Lyon, its history, its identity, while respecting its DNA and by associating and perpetuating strong teams. »
Laurent Gerra and Jerome Bocuse
Very attached to his hometown, Jérôme Bocuse is fully in line with the spirit of his father who had already reached out to Léon de Lyon, when he was taken over by Jean-Paul Lacombe following the tragic death of his father. Paul (picture below). The new partners have their work cut out to straighten out the group. First priority: stabilize and reassure the teams still present, then clean up the accounts and renegotiate the schedules of the multiple loans contracted with the banking establishments, without forgetting the URSSAF and the tax services.
For their part, Fabien Chalard and Julien Géliot have undertaken to tell another story – more to their advantage to our colleagues – (notably Tribune de Lyon). Out of the race, they withdrew to La Bastide (Collonges) and Fer à cheval, the cash bar of the Halles de Lyon. They are always part of the restoration of the Passagethe restaurant located 20 meters from the Léon de Lyon that they bought with Frederic Merlin and which is, to date, in full renovation…. There is no doubt that from Corsica where he spends his holidays, the little prince of real estate from Lyon has already taken good note of the mistakes not to be made again in this type of association.
