Press release – source: LeChiller Group (Agence Nooma)
Driven by international expansion, French instant drinks-chilling specialist LeChiller Group is strengthening its sales structure to meet growing demand from hotels, cafés and restaurants and from high-end interior design. The Boulogne-Billancourt-based group has created a Key Accounts division and appointed Benjamin Micheli to lead it.
With twenty years of experience in the sector, Micheli will head the new division, tasked with building a worldwide distribution network and consolidating the group’s strategic partnerships.
Twenty years of sales development in hospitality
A graduate of Euromed (now KEDGE Business School), Micheli began his career with a two-year apprenticeship at Metro before joining Vosges-based textile maker Garnier-Thiebaut. He then spent eleven years at French tableware manufacturer Guy Degrenne, where he supported the move upmarket of its collections. There he led sales for the French market, then export development (excluding the United States) across Europe and as far as Asia and the Middle East, as well as events and sales team management.
Among his key achievements is the development of the Swiss market. Little exploited when he arrived, it became one of the brand’s leading European markets, with a presence in many benchmark establishments, a success built on structuring a distribution network and choosing a local partner ready to invest.
“I had been following LeChiller on social media for a while. I was struck by how practical and innovative its solutions are, immediately useful for hotels, restaurants and events. Then I met a passionate team driving an ambitious project. Having mostly developed existing networks, I wanted to build a new one, within a fast-growing company.” Benjamin Micheli
A dual mission: key accounts and an international network
The new role responds to rising demand for equipment from cafés, hotels and restaurants, from the events sector and from high-end interior design. Micheli is responsible for the group’s entire portfolio, built around three complementary brands:
- LeChiller®: bottle chillers, including the professional LeChiller PRO range and the built-in LeChiller KitchenTop model;
- Urban Cuisine®: portable or built-in indoor vegetable gardens;
- UFROST®: cryogenic solutions for gastronomy and mixology, for which the group is exclusive distributor in Europe and South Africa.
He is also in charge of structuring the group’s new sales model, which now relies on a network of importers and distributors across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and in Asia. These local partners will market and launch the products in their territories. Already present in the Nordic countries and in Dubai, LeChiller Group aims to accelerate its international development.
“My role is to provide solutions: to understand each client’s needs, their environment and the experience they want to offer their own customers. Internationally, you can’t sell machine by machine from France. The challenge is to select, market by market, importers and distributors able to carry our solutions locally, without spreading ourselves thin and with clear priorities.” Benjamin Micheli, Senior Key Account, LeChiller® Group
About LeChiller Group
An art-de-vivre and technology specialist since 1992, LeChiller Group was founded on a simple idea: respecting the integrity of products through precise temperature control. Chaired by Frédéric Lévy, the group develops LeChiller®, a patented instant-chilling technology that prepares drinks for service in a few minutes without water or ice; Urban Cuisine®, dedicated to indoor plant growing; and distributes UFROST® exclusively in Europe and South Africa. Rooted in European manufacturing, the group combines technical precision with energy efficiency. www.lechiller.com
Press contact: Agence RP Nooma – Alexandra Mariez, [email protected], +33 1 45 92 03 04
