Cool for the summer: Fruttini’s ‘fruit givré’

0:11Hello and welcome to The Entrepreneurs on Monocle Radio, the show all about inspiring people, innovative companies and fresh ideas in global business. This week on the show, I present to you a selection of tasty entrepreneurial summer treats from the sweetest offerings in Paris via some tempting Scandi takes on tech to a little apres-ski in Nagano. As it's holiday season, we're going around the world to offer some stories, to inspire and to sate the appetites of curious folk keen to gorge on smart insights. This is The Entrepreneurs with me, Tom Edwards.

0:58You're listening to The Entrepreneurs, and we start our globetrotting this week in Paris. Marie-Laure Polet is the co-founder of Frutini, a charming self-described haute glacerie in Paris, where you can find dozens of fruit varieties in a somewhat retro style called fruit givray. For those not in the know, that's when you delicately hollow out the fruit and refill it with sorbet made from its own flesh. Delicious. Monocle Radio's senior correspondent, Fernando Augusto Pacheco, paid a visit to Frutini. He gets all the tough assignments in the French capital. Faye began by asking Marie-Laure about the early days of Frutini.

1:38We met, Olivia and I, I think 25 years ago at the beach. And eight years ago. In fact, I have sweet memories of my childhood. During when I was 10 years old, my mummy used to bought some box of frozen lemon from the supermarket in the south of France, you know, for the picnic. So I have nice memories with my brother, with the family, with the box of frozen lemon and the lemon with the little hat, and we take out the hat and we hit the hole inside. And it doesn't exist much more, so we decided now, seven years ago, let's do this crazy idea again. So Fritini was born in 2018. Each time you will visit us, each time our customers visit us, they will discover a new garden because we follow the season.

2:21So, of course, if you come by summer, you will have the peach, the nectarine, the abricot. During, I don't know, Christmas, it will be the lychee, it will be the persimmon. In April, it's more like all the lemon from all over the world. And, of course, exotic fruits. And is this your first shop? Because I know you're expanding, but tell us about this location. Yes, this location, 24 rue Saint-Placide in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. I enjoy this neighborhood here. And yes, we start 24th rue Saint-Placide, so seven years ago. And we start, we were three people. So only Olivia, my chef, and I. And in fact, the two first years of Frutini, in fact, I were doing the night at the market at Ranges.

3:05We bought the food to bring them in everything in our lab at the end of the shop. And Olivia, the chef, and I, we learned how to cut, to clean the fruits, to take off the pulp, to make a sorbet. and it's like, you know, a sleeping beauty. We wake up the sleeping beauty for the pleasure, for la gourmandise. Ce que la gourmandise c 'est important. And of course, what I really enjoy is when my clients, everything in Frutini, everything needs to be cut in two parts for tasting, for eating. And it's so beautiful to see everybody sharing, you know, it's important for sharing. Sharing is caring. This is a unique shop.

3:45I never seen something quite like that, right? Yeah, yes, I think so. Olivia and I work on the project during one year. We are looking a lot about the design, about first the good fruits, because we make the sorbet from the pulp of the fruits. But of course, we are looking for every details to bring you a real fruitini lifestyle. If you come even for takeaway, you know, we have beautiful box with beautiful ruban. it's a pleasure to offer it's a pleasure to be I don't know, it's good It's been expanding as well I know last year you had collaborations with a very famous shop was it Galerie Lafayette?

4:28Yes, exactly And this year you're heading to London as well Tell us more about this expansion In fact, this expansion I work on B2B clients since I think six years so I take the call and I phone and I ask and I ask and I re-ask and in fact we have a really nice product we have a really nice fruit we have a really nice ending dinner and each year I have new clients new customers new hotel for example I think when you came last year maybe it was in July I cannot remember yes because for example we make a fantastic collaboration with Hotel de Crion, Place de la Concorde. And it was, I really love to do that because I met the chef.

5:17I was meeting the big, big pastry chef. So I was a little bit afraid because I'm still the marchand de glace, you know. And so I met the chef and we make a collaboration with a special product, Inspiration Brazil, because we love Brazil. The music is Brazil. So we make a special product like a coconut with acai. And it was so good. And after, you know, there's other chefs who call you and other chefs who ask you to make something special or just to be presented for the menu, you know, on the menu of a beautiful place. Also on beach, because if you go in the south of France, you can discover our frutini, I think, in a lot of places, like Gigi, like Tropezina, like Lulu.

6:05I think we make a good product. Voilà. Thank you. And where do you make it? Is it everything here? So we start here in Rue 24, Rue Saint-Placide. And you know, after two years, we need to push the wall because in fact our products, you keep them cold inside the freezer room. So I don't have enough space here in Rue Saint-Placide. So now our laboratory is in Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine. It's 30 minutes from here. And now we start with three. and now I have 12 people who every day cut, take out the pulp, mix the pulp, make a sorbet and put back inside. You know, it's a really artisanal work, really artisanal job.

6:49You can imagine that the pear that we love together, the pear, the same fruit was touched eight times. At the moment, I bought it, I cleaned it, I take off the little stickers, I cut it, take out the eight times. So it's the same fruit. So it's really artisanal. We are very proud because we still keep this constance. You can find always the special taste, the special beauty of the fruit, because in fact, when you take the fruit, there is no ice, no... It's perfect. It's natural. Yes, and for me, it's like a hot glass. You know, there is a pret -à-porter and a haute couture. There are the bijoux and the haute jewelry.

7:30For me, Frutini, it's not ice cream, it's a hot glass. I love that. And what is the most popular one? I love pear. I loved, I remember last time I came, mandarin. Yes, tangerine, mandarin, fantastic. I love it, fantastic. What is your favorite and the best salad? Alors, my favorite, my favorite is really, we call it limonet de Marrakech. It's a sweet lemon with bergamot. This is a lemon that Moroccan people use with a tagine. And it's so elegant. For me, it's so elegant, so fresh, not too sour. so limonade de marrakesh and of course since seven years the passion fruit or marakuya marakuja one of my favorites yes and the marakuja and the marakuja is still you know marakuja has a second name we call it wow it's simply wow because it's the taste it's a good balance between the sweet and the sour.

8:31Everybody enjoyed the mango, also the coconut, also so much. I have the figs, I have chestnut, to have the big cacao pod to share also. Pineapple from Réunion Island is so good too. And finally, I just want to ask, do you have already idea for your plans for the summer? Of course, summer must be a very big season for you. I know that you're present in London already. Yes, Are you going to be in the south of France as well? Yes, of course, always in the south of France. Little by little, because we need to product a lot of fruits for the summer. Organically. Yes, exactly. So we started in London yesterday with a beautiful collaboration with, I can say the name, with the chancery.

9:17At the chancery, you can find our little trolley with, I think, passion, lemon, mango and coconuts to enjoy. and there's a sunny day in London. Of course, in the south of France, we have a beautiful collaboration. We work with Grand Hotel de Saint-Jean-Cape-Ferraud. So a lot of places I think you can find us. Or if you don't find us, ask for Froutini. Come to Paris. Yes. Come to Paris. Listen, Marie-Laure, I think that's it really. Oh, thank you so much. And you know, we open, we have another shop now. And Victor Hugo, it's near Arc de Triomphe, it's near Champs-Elysées. and you can imagine that this shop is open until midnight.

10:00So in fact you can come after just walking by your Tour Eiffel, Trocadero, Arc de Triomphe and after you come to visit us with pleasure. That was Marie-Laure Paulet, the co-founder of Frutini, in conversation with Fernando and you can find out more by heading to frutini.com. For Monocle's house view on the news of the day, let the briefing be your guide. You get expert analysis, business insights, and the latest from the European front pages. It's devolving to a point where we're at odds with each other instead of letting our political leaders do the dirty work, so to speak. With razor-sharp insight and opinion from Monaco's editors, bureau, and correspondents around the world, it's essential listening for those looking to make sense of a fast-moving world.

10:46If that is the case, I think we're in for a long civil war, which will be a rather sad turn of events. Live every weekday at 1300 CET, noon in London and 7am in New York City. All ready when you are as a podcast. Keep your appointment with a briefing. Weekdays on Monocle Radio.

11:15This is The Entrepreneurs. To Sweden next. Next, Omid Eklazi is the founder and CEO of Tech Arena, a global platform for bringing together entrepreneurs, innovators and investors, and leading figures across public and private sectors from over 120 countries. From humble, and as Omid tells its slightly disastrous beginnings, Tech Arena is now Scandinavia's biggest tech and business event, and it's played a key role in growing the wider regional ecosystem. them. I caught up with Omid during Almadalen Week in Visby, Gotland in June. There, Tech Arena was hosting three stages plus networking events.

11:54On the agenda, facilitating dialogue and helping leaders, entrepreneurs and policy makers alike come together to shape Sweden's future. I mean, this is a very, very unique setting we have in Sweden. So Almadalswecken, it gathers around more than 60 ,000 participants across five days. And you have everyone. You have ministers. You have the Swedish prime minister walking around in the street. You can shake hands with him. You have all the CEOs from the big corporations. You have the decision makers. You have basically everyone who is, you know, bringing the society forward. And we came here for the first time 10 years ago.

12:33And we saw that there's no founders. There's no entrepreneurs. Everybody's talking about startups but there's they are nowhere to be found so then we decided okay you know what let's bring uh we brought 50 companies here so that's around 100 founders and since then we've been doing it every year besides the two covid years and i believe that we see so many collaborations and partnerships coming out of this week and recently we also seen a lot of investments going into the startup so this is a unique setting and that startup scene is incredibly dynamic Stockholm also as a real hub. It's interesting, the eyes of Europe are really on Stockholm.

13:13Do you think it's going to deal with that pressure? Can it meet that level of expectation? You're going to say yes, presumably. Absolutely. So what's happening in Stockholm right now is that we have this kind of community of founders and serial entrepreneurs, the ones who have been part of this, you know, the big corporation, the big companies, startups, Klarna, Spotify, Einrad. We have so many of them and they are starting to reinvest in the early stage companies and the early stage companies are starting to reinvest in the even earlier companies. So and also we see that once you're part of this kind of AI, you know, this different type of AI application companies that are coming up, then you learn how this works.

13:54You learn how to sell, you learn how to go global and then they start their own company. So right now it's really truly unique what's happening in Stockholm. Well, I've got to ask you, if we zoom out a little and look at the AI picture in particular, we've seen another big global equities wobble in the last week, particularly in the US, because of concerns about the sustainability of AI capex, etc. We know that narrative. You're sort of closer to this story, right? You know these people, you know these businesses. Are you confident that actually we're not in a kind of Dutch tulip bubble or anything like that?

14:27And that you because you see the foundational improvements that are going to build sustained investment. Are you confident about that? You're not worried about an AI, not a bubble, but the sustainability of CapEx in this space. So for me, what I see is that I meet the founders and then I hear how they're growing. So and when the founders are growing with customers, it means that there's a market for it. I mean, this is the new thing that I see much more like previously there would be. You know, this kind of long-term innovations. It will take like five years or six years, and then you need to go to an industrial company.

15:05But these new founders, I mean, before they even have a product, they were customers. And now you see they're growing. I met some here at Almedalen. They've been around for, I don't know, six months. They have more than 100 companies that are clients to them, and the companies are integrating their solution into their everyday work. So I believe that as long as you have a market and you're growing with customers, I think it's going to be sustainable. So you're kind of getting the product market fit first and the use cases and then the growth follows. Let's go way, way, way back because it's funny, we talked briefly yesterday when we met about the origin story actually of Tech Arena and you had a proper mixed founder story, successes, failures.

15:47Take us back because you speak really amusingly and engagingly about it. It's not been easy, has it? And if you go back to the beginning, tell us a little bit about that. It hasn't been easy. So my own story is that back in the days I was working with this kind of private incubator investment firm. And we were trying to address the big problem that we have in, I think, all across the world, but in Europe and Sweden especially, that there's a lot of research and a lot of IP that is created, but no one is actually commercializing it. So I was working with this company, it's what's called CERN Deep Innovations.

16:18We were working to commercialize a lot of different products within medical technology, clean technology, advanced materials. And as we started to grow and getting more and more success, we noticed that more and more, you know, startups and founders and researchers came to us. But we couldn't really help them anymore because we had our hands full. So we decided let's do an entrepreneurship competition. And we did it with a media outlet. And the first year, you know, we were so excited. It was so much written in the magazines and we were so hyped about it. So we're in this small city called Bosta and we're going to start at 9 o 'clock.

16:57You know, I didn't have any prior experience in creating events. So we noticed that half of the companies didn't show up at 9 o 'clock because there was no communication and no hotels or taxi. It's a very small town. And then we had this like huge cinema. that we said, okay, the finals, like out of the 30 finalists, we had 10 that would be in the finals and we had this huge cinema that we rented. Eight o 'clock we were going to start and everybody's ready and we open up and we have eight people in the audience. But it didn't put you off there. This is what I love about your story and it speaks to the kind of optimism, the confidence.

17:35You were like, no, okay, so that didn't work, but how can we mix it up a little? How can we improve it? So the thing that actually got us going, keep doing it, because the next day we had a gathering. And then we brought some investors. The media was there. We brought some industrial people. We had some decision makers and all of the finalists. And that gathering created so much value that we said that, OK, we have to keep doing this. So that was, yeah, it was not the best start, but we're here now. And bring us up to speed, because obviously now it's hard to sort of reconcile that slightly shaky beginning story, because it's such a success.

18:10It fits here so well. Maybe a final thought. I mean, what makes this week a success? I mean, I guess if you see lots of value creation, if you make connections, you help bring people together, but what would constitute a success for you and for Tech Arena this week? I mean, I think the networking and the access. So I'm talking to, you know, we bring around 40, 50 entrepreneurs here every year and I talked to them yesterday and they met people that they have been trying to reach for more than one year. And they meet them and they can have meetings, they go to mingles, they do networking. And also, you know, since we gathered them, a lot of like investors and politicians, they come and visit them, you know, shake their hands and try to create collaborations.

18:54So I think as long as it leads to collaborations, partnerships and business, we're very happy. That was Omid Eklazi, the founder and CEO of TechArena. Find out more, head over to techarena.se. The Monocle Quality of Life Conference is back, and we are returning to Lisbon after 11 years, from the 3rd to the 5th of September. Meet the people delivering better quality of life for all, explore some of Lisbon's most exclusive and interesting venues, and enjoy the best drinking and dining the city has to offer. You'll hear from two of the world's most exciting architects, Portugal's Manuel Airis Mateus and Mexico's Tatiana Bilbao.

19:34The three visionary founders behind Amble, a new kind of connected mobility brand. What if we apply hospitality thinking to mobility? How can we bring those two worlds together? And the duo trying to get you walking more, Takashi Fukuji and Dr. Courtney Conley. Find out more and secure your place in Lisbon now. Head to monocle.com forward slash events.

20:10The final stop on the Entrepreneurs' Global Tour this week is Nagano, Japan. The country's ski resorts continue to grow in popularity with property buyers. According to data released this year, Hakuba Village in Nagano Prefecture recorded the highest rate of land price growth in Japan for the third consecutive year. While the influx of foreign tourists and overseas investors is boosting local economies, it is also raising concerns about soaring house prices. Monocle's Ryuma Takahashi caught up with Derek Cirillo and Nick McCluta, the co-founders of Yuki Homes, a company specialising in ski resort real estate, to discuss why Japan's mountains continue to attract people from around the world and to mull what might lie ahead for the property market.

20:58Derek began by explaining how the business works. We will help people buy anywhere. I think the reason that we have become so ski-focused is because we ourselves are snowboarders, and that's how we fell in love with Japan. So a lot of our content is very snowboard-focused. And I also think that we've learned that is the biggest motivator for foreign buyers, is ski towns and ski real estate. So that's just kind of become our main focus. As a Japanese person, I've always wondered, why are so many foreign investors interested in buying property at Japan ski resorts? Japan skiing is world class. These resorts are the snowiest resorts in the world.

21:40For reference, like where I grew up in New York, the ski resorts get about 150 inches. I'm not sure what that is in meters. 150 inches a year. And in Japan, the resorts by our house get 800 inches a year. So significantly more snow. And anywhere else in the whole world, ski resort, real estate is insanely expensive. In the US, anywhere is high six figures to seven figures for anything. Where Japan, you can buy a ski home. We bought our ski home for 26 ,000 USD. A few years ago, places like Niseko and Myoko weren't nearly as popular or expensive as they are today. How do you see the market now?

22:23Do you think the prices have become too high? Yeah, I think we're kind of at this tipping point where a lot of real estate near ski resorts is maxing out in terms of price, at least from what we can tell. In the last 20 years, Niseko was actually the fastest growing equity per square foot location in Japan. I think it was growing faster than Tokyo at one point. And we are trying to help clients find the next Niseko or the next Miyoko or the next Hakuba. Are there any areas that you currently find particularly attractive or are paying close attention to? I think there's a few. I think Miyoko is definitely the easiest one to pick out.

23:10A lot of foreign investment property prices have been rising, but it's not like Hakuba or Niseko level yet. So I think that's a really interesting spot. it's still somewhat affordable where we own our house in otaru up in hokkaido it's not a traditional ski town it's more a city with like seven ski resorts nearby we really like that area prices are very affordable so i would say our clients tend to gravitate towards that spot and like nishinkansen is being built there so i think there's a lot of like good indicators that otaru could be a spot that continues to gain popularity and maybe increases in value we haven't seen any value really increase yet.

23:51But we have seen homes being sold much quicker than last year, just in a year span. I think Miyoko, Hakuba, or Niseko are already well-known internationally. How do you see the outlook for these markets? Do you think there's still room for price growth? Yeah, that's an interesting question. I think prices are still rising in areas like Niseko and Hakuba, there are still plots of land for sale that are being bought by pretty large-scale investors. We focus traditionally on residential real estate. We've sold or helped sell two commercial buildings, but traditionally we're just single family home.

24:35And that's what most of our clients are interested in. And that's what we know the most about. So I think prices are definitely rising still in Niseko, still in Hakuba, Miyoko. We've actually saw our first bidding war happen in the Miyoko region. So it almost seems like some of the Western styles of buying and selling are entering the market a little bit. And I don't know necessarily if that's a good thing, but we've been watching a lot of pace increase in terms of how fast properties get off the market, not necessarily as much price increase yet. So finally, I saw Japanese local media often reports that foreign real estate investment has contributed to rising living costs and land prices, as well as tensions between local communities and overseas buyers.

25:28What are your thoughts on these concerns? And is there anything your company is doing to address them? I think that it depends on where you are. So in Tokyo, I know there's a lot of issues with that, with cost of living increase and real estate increase. And to be honest, most of our clients, maybe we've sold two houses in Tokyo. We have majority of our clients have been buying in rural areas. So I think the biggest thing is teaching our clients to be respectful. We have a whole guide that we built on things you should do, introducing yourself to your neighbor, bringing them gifts, learning a little Japanese.

26:06We're trying to build a Japanese course that we can give to our clients that just helps them. Not that they're going to become fluent, but at least they can introduce themselves and be respectful. So I think a lot of the issues come with people not understanding the culture. And if we can do what we can do for our clients to help them understand the culture, help them understand things like that, then I think there will be less issues. Like we ourselves have only had great conversations with our neighbors, with people at restaurants, like, and they're, what they always say is just make sure you guys are doing it the right way.

26:39Make sure you're teaching people what the culture is and make sure that they're being respectful of the culture. So that's our main goal. That was Derek Cirillo and Nick McCluta, the co-founders of Yuki Homes. And you can find out more by heading to yukihomes.com.

27:06And that's all for this globe-trotting edition of The Entrepreneurs. We'll be back at the same time next week. Programmes produced by Laura Kramer with audio editing by Jack Dewars. Listen again and find out more at monocle.com. That's where you can, and indeed should, subscribe to Monocle magazine to ensure you're reading more about better businesses every month. If you'd like to get in touch with the team, do feel free to send me an email on teatmonocle.com. I'm Tom Edwards. Goodbye, and thanks for listening to The Entrepreneurs.