Bordeaux Bakery for sale

AN ICONIC bakery business whose founder has been knighted for his services to French food and culture is for sale in Wellington.

Bordeaux Bakery, at 220 Thorndon Quay, opened in 1992 and led to Jean-Louis Macadre running multiple retail outlets around Wellington, including Bordeaux on Featherston St, where it’s traded for nearly 15 years.

Both bakeries are for sale, along with a Nga¯ u¯ ranga Gorge warehouse; the sale includes leases on the three sites.

‘‘Bordeaux is synonymous with the best artisanal bread and pastries you can buy in Wellington,’’ Neil Forde, of Century 21, says.

‘‘Over 26 years, Jean-Louis has turned his one-man bakery into a limited liability company with 35 staff and a fleet of four vehicles that supply fresh markets and businesses around Wellington.

‘‘Such has been his mark on Wellington’s cafe culture that the French government recognised the unique contribution his business has made to the profile of French food here and granted him a knighthood in 2010 for his services to French food and culture.’’

The 497-square-metre Thorndon Quay bakery includes a large cafe with seating for 90 patrons, an upstairs mezzanine, an outdoor terrace and the 300sqm production area with French-made mixers, dividers, moulders, provers and ovens. Also part of the sale is Bordeaux Bakery’s import license for sourcing premium ingredients from specialist suppliers in France.

These range from patisserie raw product, such as custard powder, chocolate, alcohol additives and glaze, to bags, cake boxes and other packaging. Imported produce is offloaded from shipping containers into a warehouse, at 7 Tyer Rd, which can be accessed all hours of the day.

Bordeaux Bakery also has a long and ongoing relationship with ANPU, a French organisation that links French-trained and qualified bakers and patissiers with employers around the world.

Bordeaux’s comprehensive food safety programme, which has been in place for 10 years, contains all the recipes, process flows, charts and forms required by law for the extensive production, storage and retail of food items in NZ.

‘‘The programme is independently audited every year,’’ Forde says.

The bakery trades daily, from 7.30am-4pm, with each day’s baking starting at 2am.

‘‘Bordeaux’s efficient, streamlined production ensures high-quality goods with excellent cost control,’’ Forde says.

The vendors own the Thorndon Quay site and will lease it to the new owner for an initial five years, with a five-year right of renewal.

The initial rent will be $157,599 a year (plus gst), which is supported by a registered valuation, Forde says.

There is a separate lease for Petit Bordeaux on Featherston St.

The 65sqm space does not include a kitchen and rent is $45,000 a year (plus gst); the lease has two years to run and a four-year right of renewal.

The rent for the 60sqm dry storage warehouse in Nga¯ u¯ ranga Gorge is $1368 a month (plus gst and outgoings).

There are six under-cover car parks at 220 Thorndon Quay. These are partly by right and partly by agreement with the neighbour, Forde says.

‘‘Bordeaux uses them for their service and delivery vehicles under an arrangement that they hire three off-site car parks for that neighbour and they in turn exclusively use the on-site under-cover car parks. This agreement is not formally documented.’’

Bordeaux also has an arrangement to supply a major speciality food outlet.

About half of the 35 employees are part-time. The fortnightly wages bill is $22,000 to $26,000, excluding the vendors’ earnings, Forde says.

‘‘After 26 years, they feel it is time to move on. They have established and grown an organisation which sources ingredients from near and far, to proudly create delicacies in well located outlets with a great front of house presence and behind-thescene staff.

‘‘Its processes and procedures are well documented, making it an ideal managerial-run business. In particular, the process for skilled staff is well in place to ensure continuity of the authentic French bakery,’’ he says.

The business consistently turns over more than $2 million a year and provides a strong return to the owners.

‘‘They are looking for someone to not only take over ‘their baby’ but also to be their long-term tenant.’’

Forde says with businesses in the industry selling at just under three times managed profit, the asking price of $1.28 million (plus stock of $409,000) is easily justified.

‘‘Industry standards indicate that a business generating this level of return would expect multiple up to three times EBPITDA.’’

❚ For more information, contact Neil Forde on 027 445 8507 or at: neil.forde@century21.co.nz