Le Duff America, the Dallas-based affiliate of global French bakery-café leader Groupe Le Duff, announced the appointment of Lionel Ladouceur as CEO of Le Duff America.

Lionel Ladouceur is from Canada and as the new CEO of Le Duff America, he will be in charge of restaurant operations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. He brings over 25 years of restaurant industry expertise in operations, franchise and general management in the U.S., Canada and Europe, and he holds a Masters of Management degree from the University of Quebec in Montréal.

Lionel Ladouceur will replace Olivier Poirot, who is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.

“I am grateful for my time at Le Duff and know that the Le Duff family and all of our franchisees are positioned for continued success in the future,” says Poirot.

“I thank Olivier for his work during the last two years and wish him the very best for his new challenges,” adds Louis Le Duff.

Lionel Ladouceur started his career with McDonald’s in Canada and France. He then spent seven years with Burger King in charge of operations for Continental Europe. He returned to Canada where he became CEO of Bridor Inc. and Brioche Dorée in Canada and the Northeast U.S. From 2001 to 2007 he was CEO of the restaurant division of Auchan Groupe (Agape) and has spent the last eight years as CEO and minority shareholder of Simport Scientific (U.S. and Canada).

Louis le Duff, founding president of Groupe Le Duff, said, “We are happy to welcome Lionel, who has strong expertise in the restaurant activity in North America.”

To carry out his challenge, Lionel Ladouceur will rely on the talented teams of Le Duff America in the U.S. and Canada.