CEO – co-founder of Karine & Jeff

June 2017

Based in the Southwestern French town of Revel,Karine & Jeff is a company that reflects their two creators Karine Tardon and Jean-François Marie. You need to know about the genesis of the project to fully understand the values that underpin this premium organic culinary brand.

The couple spent nearly 6 years travelling round the world to pursue their shared passion of cooking and travelling. Their adventure opened up their eyes to healthy diets and vegetarian cooking, highly present in many of the countries they crossed. They came back to France with a wealth of experience and an irrepressible desire to in turn raise awareness of the importance of diet. The set up their company in 2000 with the support of a State grant rewarding the most innovative initiatives in the Gers county.

Karine Tardon met Martine Liautaud and the WIF Foundation in 2016. Her banker at BNP Paribas recommended she go to a lunch put on for women entrepreneurs and the initiative seduced her immediately. 

She valued the forum for sharing knowledge and for the support for developing her business both in France and internationally.

Indeed Karine was setting up a subsidiary in the United States and was looking to bolster her brand in France. Her mentor, Jean Jacques Bérard, founder of CMS Consult, supported her to grow and structure her company.

“His wide-ranging business experience taught me a lot. My company is now 17 years old, but he pushed me to develop a more global vision of things, to open up new avenues of possibilities, whilst keeping a sustainable structure.”

Today Karine & Jeff sell 132 original, vegetarian cooked meals in glass jars, distributed mainly through organic oulets like Biocop and Naturalisa – in addition to their new e-shop. Next year Karine Tardon will be supported by a New York-based mentor as she builds her American subsidiary.

To find out more about Karine & Jeff, click here