Nicholas Pedneault would tell you he was born in a deep freeze. And since he started working at Congebec, the company founded by his father, at a very young age, that’s almost true.
As a teenager, it was clear to him: spending his life in -20 degrees was out of the question!
“I got my degree in finance. I dreamed of becoming an investment banker on Wall Street or at the Caisse de Depot. “In my teenage eyes, Congebec was a nice little local business that I saw no prospect of growth,” says the entrepreneur.
If he had been told that in 2023 he would be heading a pan-Canadian cold storage network with sales of more than $100 million, through which $2 billion worth of food would be transported each year, he would have choked on his saliva.
After his university studies, Nicholas helped his father in Congebec who wanted to expand beyond his Quebec region. As he prepared financial forecasts and began negotiating with investors, he saw real growth potential. So the temporary work dragged on over time.
“Whenever there was a problem in IT or HR, they referred me. I stayed in the job and two or three kids later I realized my career was going to take place in the company I never thought of! he remembers.
salvation in extreme cases
In 2015, following an acquisition in western Canada, his father prepared to sell his real estate assets to let his son Nicholas run the Congebec operating company, a link between food production and grocery stores. And then came an unsolicited takeover bid from a Canadian player who wanted to take it all over.
For Nicholas it could have been the end of the entrepreneurial episode.
It had to be bold and activate its network to assert its potential and retain ownership of Congebec in Quebec. Desjardins Venture Capital was one of the shareholders and went into bailout mode to allow Nicholas to join the shareholder base for a very small percentage. The company had lost a lot of value and needed support to be able to buy it back.
Nicholas experienced exhilarating growing-up years, also building confidence while learning the difficult role of being a president who pays the price for making tough decisions.
He almost completely transformed the strategic team to grow the business.
“We needed other types of talent to keep going. I had to thank people who were older than me and who I had known since I was a little guy. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” he admits.
The Congebec strategic team: Richard Patenaude, Guy Clairmont, Jean-François Vallée, France Pomerleau and Nicholas Pedneault, President. Pierre-Paul Poulin / Le Journal de Montreal / QMI Agency
The pandemic could have taken everything away
In 2020, Nicholas and his partners bought out the investment partners’ shares just before the pandemic turned everything upside down.
Nobody knew what would follow: consumers spent their money as food processing plants closed. Congebec’s freezers were emptied and fear grew. There was no time to slow down when the partners had just fallen into the debt trap.
The president succeeded in doing this with a special team made up of workers from all over the country.
Three years later, Congebec has come back strong. The company just invested $70 million in a new cold storage facility in Mascouche, which it hopes will help grow food processing in Quebec.
The vision of the future? The refrigeration market is dominated by two big American players and Congebec wants to develop partnerships with other independent companies in the United States.
“We have the technology to bring people together and serve customers well. Proximity is important to us. Can we work with others to achieve a North American outreach? asks the entrepreneur.
Profile of Nicholas Pedneault
President of Congebec
Age: 47 years old
Number of employees: 600
Headquarters: Quebec
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Beauce School of Entrepreneurship