Christophe Barret

Partner @ VISCONTI PARTNERS

About

After more than 25 years leading international companies across Europe and Asia, I’ve learned that leadership is not only about decisions — it’s about clarity, alignment, and the ability to inspire. At Classic Fine Foods, I had the privilege of building diverse teams and personally coaching and developing 12 General Managers across multiple markets. That experience reinforced a conviction: sustainable performance emerges when leaders grow other leaders. Today, as a Partner Coach at Visconti Partners, I accompany executives and COMEX members who want to take a step back, strengthen their leadership, and create lasting impact. My approach combines operational experience at the highest level with a pragmatic, result-driven coaching mindset — helping leaders to: • Maximise their company’s value • Boosting executive performance through focused coaching, • Achieve a healthy work balanced. At Visconti, I’m proud to share three guiding principles that resonate deeply with my own journey: Sharing – Boldness – Pleasure. And my personal compass remains unchanged: Freedom – Respect – High Standards. Because leadership is not only about achieving results — it’s about turning vision into reality, with integrity and impact. “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” — Warren Bennis

Country

City

France

Industry

Professional Training & Coaching

Skill

General Management, Commerce, GMS, Food Industry, Business Strategy, strategy and vision, Strategy, Transformational Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Strategic Thinking, Retail, Merchandising, Food, Marketing, FMCG, Negotiation, Wholesale, Sales Management, Purchasing, Procurement

Experience

Partner

VISCONTI PARTNERS

2025-6 - Present · 1 yr 4 mos

France

President

Advalis Consulting

2024-1 - Present · 2 yrs 9 mos

France

Advise and guide companies in their transformation and deployment

Advisor

French Foreign Trade Advisors

2017-1 - Present · 9 yrs 9 mos

Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Chief Executive Officer

Classic Fine Foods Group

2018-7 - 2023-1 · 4 yrs 7 mos

Hong Kong SAR

Implemented the group turnaround across 14 markets with a new value creation plan and contributed to building Metro’s acquisition strategy credibility with the financial markets: governance, country portfolio, digital innovation and B2C extension.

EVP, Commercial Director

METRO/MAKRO

2015-4 - 2018-6 · 3 yrs 3 mos

Istanbul, Turkey

Together with the company CEO I implemented the strategy, executed the turnaround and carried out the new value creation plan, reorganizing the company using lean & agile methods and creating a new Food Service Delivery channel enhanced by a new digital solution.

Global Procurement Director, CEO

METRO/MAKRO

2009-5 - 2015-3 · 5 yrs 11 mos

Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Designed and implemented the new group category management & procurement strategy across 30 markets with 4 years programs - Customer Led Category Management, Fact Based Negotiation, Direct Sourcing and Partnerships through buying cooperation.