This Monday, January 16, a new episode of Patron Incognito is broadcast in prime time on M6. Entrepreneur Yves Hecker will be infiltrated into the heart of his own company: Les Burgers de Papa. Business Cool looks back on his journey, from his beginnings in the world of entrepreneurship to his time on the show Patron Incognito.
Yves Hecker and the origin of the Les Burgers de Papa brand
An atypical journey
Yves Hecker was far from being predestined to run a restaurant chain. Originally from Lichtenberg, in Bas-Rhin, he first worked as a presenter on Studio 1, a local radio station. He then joined Europe 2, which became Virgin Radio, and Top Music, before settling in Lyon, always with the same aim of evolving in the radio world, this time at MFM. His activities as a presenter on the airwaves ended in 2013, after twelve years in the profession.
With a simple baccalaureate in Tertiary Sciences and Technology specializing in Management, Yves Hecker imagined the concept of Papa’s Burgers one evening while eating in a small establishment, opposite the Strasbourg faculty, where he had started an English course. He kept this idea in the back of his mind for around ten years until he came across by chance, one evening in 2013, a TV report presenting Big Fernand, a new restaurant chain of which he is now one of the main competitors on French territory: it clicked. He then decided to radically change direction in order to open his first restaurant: Les Burgers de Papa was opened for the first time in Lyon a few months later.
The meteoric evolution of the Les Burgers de Papa brand
The first Burgers de Papa establishment therefore opens its doors on rue Neuve, in the second arrondissement of Lyon. It was then only a small premises with a dozen tables, but its success was immediate since it produced nearly a hundred covers every day. From then on, the brand became a popular address in the Rhône capital, its burgers prepared at a fixed price of 12 euros being the main cause.
Unlike many fast food restaurants selling products of this type, Yves Hecker chooses to highlight the quality of its products. These all come from a short circuit, in order to make the region’s economy work. For example, Burgers de Papa’s fries are produced with potatoes from a farmer located 30 kilometers from the restaurant. They also make their own lemonade and brew their own beer, designed in the neighboring department of Loire.
The success of the company does not lie only in the quality of the burgers put on sale. Indeed, Yves Hecker is well aware that he must be able to diversify the choice of burgers in order to conquer new taste buds. To achieve this, new recipes are developed according to the seasons: foie gras burger at Christmas, raclette cheese burger in winter, a different burger is born regularly.
The quality and diversity of Burgers de Papa products have been very successful for nine years now. In 2016, Yves Hecker was able to raise nearly a million euros in order to open new restaurants and in particular attack Paris.
In total, two brands were deployed in the Parisian capital, for a total of 45 across France. Les Burgers de Papa has 420 employees, 2.4 million burgers/fries each year for a total turnover of 33 million euros… and Yves Hecker does not intend to stop there, in testifies to its presence in Patron Incognito.
The principle of Boss Incognito
Boss Incognito is a broadcast broadcast on M6 during which French company managers pose as a job seeker or an intern to get closer to the teams and thus study the various dysfunctions encountered by employees. For Yves Hecker, the objective is simple: to travel through the Burgers de Papa stores across France in order to “ of get back to the table and rethink certain processes. »
The show will also allow Yves Hecker to introduce his company to new people. A successful communication stunt or a real way to develop your business? Surely a bit of both, see you at 11 p.m. this Monday, January 16 to find out for sure.
Yves Hecker aka Emmanuel in Boss Incognito
For Patron Incognito, Yves Hecker visited three of his establishments: in Metz, in Besançon and then in Lyon, the city where it all began. Three different places but one and the same role: that of Emmanuel, an extra novice in the world of fast food. To explain the presence of the cameras, the production team made employees believe that they were producing a report on International Burger Day.
During these three discreet immersions, Yves noticed certain problems emanating from his establishments: reduced margins since the health crisis, mixed opinions from the public concerning certain restaurants, his immersion in the heart of the daily tasks of his employees allowed him to understand that we had to make things happen.
Thanks to the show, Yves Hecker created a program called “ Back to basics » which aims to raise employee awareness of the path the company wishes to take to confirm its benchmark status in the highly competitive market for so-called “gourmet” burgers in France. E-learning or the implementation of QR-Codes to provide, in the workplace, links to process videos have been deployed so that all people working for the brand become aware of current issues.
