Pieter-Jan Sonck - Participant 2017-2018
I had the pleasure of working with a lot of people who were experienced in the field of strategic turnaround projects.
Role
Pieter-Jan Sonck worked as a support to the Supply Chain team at the Le Pain Quotidien USA, helping them rethink their supply chain quality and effectiveness in a fast-growing environment.
Responsibilities
Le Pain Quotidien’s supply chain had to be reviewed and simplified, to adapt to the evolutions of the stores on the American market. Besides offering over-the-counter bakery items and dining, each store also sells retail items and grab and go items. Peter-Jan contributed to the development and implementation of a new strategic plan, helping to move to reduced stock and suppliers and one production facility.
How he benefited
Pieter-Jan conducted his project with a lot of perseverance in a particularly challenging setting with the organization in full transition mode. “The fact is that there are so many different possible solutions to deal with in a difficult situation. It definitely requires re-engineering your mindset. Being in a company that is undergoing such a significant change was a real eye-opener. It also opened doors for me to work on more strategic projects.”
The company – Le Pain Quotidien
Le Pain Quotidien is a Belgian bakery and restaurant chain that has expanded across the world and now has over 240 stores on four continents, including 95 restaurants in the USA. The company was founded in 1990 by Alain Coumont and has a strong history of operating bakery/restaurants since opening its first point of sales in Brussels.
“Pieter-Jan performed his duties at an extremely high level, both from a technical level and in terms of professionalism. He greatly assisted our company, contributing his analytical skills to help us improve our logistics, data analytics and systems. Pieter-Jan served in a major role supporting the transformation of the system.”