A half-century of experience

      Spanning the last half-century, the history of Le Charcutier Aoun is as intriguing as that of Lebanon itself. Throughout decades of civil strife, the business thrived to serve local communities. Its growth often went against market trends, its owners choosing to invest during some of Lebanon’s most difficult times. Innovation, knowhow and perseverance led the company to prosper when many had closed down. As grocery stores around the world raced to keep pace with the industry’s changing needs, so did Le Charcutier Aoun. Its history is a story of “firsts”. It was among Lebanon’s first to expand its product line to frozen goods and to adopt a modern self-service format. Highlights from the company’s journey…

·    1953: Antoun Aoun founded a grocery shop servicing Achrafieh’s Mar Mitr neighborhood (now St. Louis Street). Having left his work as maitre d’hôtel, he had leased the tiny grocery store with his last month’s pay with help from friends who worked at the port, using boat wood to make shelves. His wife prepared cheese and yoghurt while his 11-year-old son Joseph Aoun woke up neighborhood customers to deliver their orders on his bicycle every morning.

·    1956-1976: When fridges entered the local market, Antoun Aoun bought a wooden fridge, replacing the ice buckets he used and enabling him to stock more products. Steel shelves replaced wooden ones, and electric fridges soon followed. With hard work and perseverance, the family business began to grow. Even when civil war resulted in a lack of products in the market, the well-reputed Antoun Aoun was entrusted by storeowners to sell their products, resulting in further growth. By the end of the 1970’s, the family opened a second shop (selling cheese and meat) in Achrafieh following their merger with the Abi Aad store and benefiting from its wider product variety. By acquiring Abi Aad’s knowhow with his investment and bringing him in as a partner, the Aoun brothers achieved a quality leap for their business. The company was registered as Le Charcutier Aoun & Abi Aad. During this period, Aoun also advised Marché de Pont (a new supermarket he encountered at Ballouneh roundabout). The supermarket’s owner asked him to take over its charcutier section. Both the Marché and Aoun’s department in it proved hugely successful.

·    1982: Joseph Aoun bought and set up a meat factory for his brother Abdallah. The factory’s production volume was high, meeting demand and successfully providing for the frozen meats department of Jimmy Market in Mkalles. Yet at the height of his success at that location, Aoun opted for further independence and expansion. They left that outlet and instead took over another store then under construction in Jisr El Bacha. From that point on, Abi Aad left the business, and the brothers continued independently under the name of Le Charcutier Aoun. That year, they also bought the Ain Saadeh branch.

·    1999: Reinforced by the assistance of his youngest brother Nicolas, who started earlier to be involved in the business, Aoun leased the Zouk Mosbeh location, originally a wool factory. By the end of the 1990’s, and rather than resting on its laurels and risking stagnation, Le Charcutier Aoun proved that it was willing and able to make the changes necessary to carry the company well into the next century.

·      2000 and beyond: Aoun confronted the new century’s challenges by re-engineering the brand to emphasize the human touch and expanding into new neighborhoods. In 2000-2001, they rehabilitated the company’s offices with cutting-edge information technology and revamped their company’s marketing and advertising strategies. Today, plans for a Charcutier Aoun Operations Center are underway.