Supporting local entrepreneurs

The fromagerie d'Arvor

Internationally, the OECD* and public authorities recognise that entrepreneurs are key to ensuring areas thrive and local economies develop. Setting up and running a business means job creation and helps tackle unemployment and rural flight.

Here at la belle-iloise, we are committed to caring for people and sustaining local dynamics.

These two commitments align perfectly with the free, voluntary coaching that our Director of Operations, Sophie Mathys, provides to Juliette Lesca, a young entrepreneur from Morbihan who is at the helm of the La Fromagerie d’Arvor project. These two strong-willed women met through the Réseau Entreprendre, an international organisation with a branch in Brittany, of which la belle-iloise is a member.

On the one hand, the organisation aims to encourage enterprising initiatives with financial support and, on the other, contribute to ensuring their success with the support of knowledgeable managers.

The organisation chooses successful candidates with care based on their motivation, business potential, the project’s feasibility and whether it is consistent with the market. These four qualities are essential for the entrepreneur to fulfil their mission: create a promising small and medium enterprise (SME) that will create jobs in Brittany.

It is the path Juliette Lesca, a unanimous winner in October 2021, has embarked upon to ensure the successful launch of the Fromagerie d’Arvor cheese dairy. After all, job creation (five jobs in three years) is a requirement to benefit from the support of Réseau Entreprendre.

Juliette studied business and economics in France and Spain before settling down in the Basque Country where she held managerial roles running teams. A year ago, Juliette decided to return home to the Morbihan area. And that was when she became interested in the business her sister and brother-in-law ran – the Laiterie de Kerguillet, formerly managed by her parents.

The Laiterie de Kerguillet dairy is a family business over a hundred years old in Plouay, north of Lorient. It collects local organic cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk, transforming it into dairy products.

100% organic butter, yoghurt, cream and cheese: locally produced and sold in short supply chains and organic stores. The company is strongly committed to the artisan quality of its work, aiming to preserve farming ties and promote products from the Morbihan area.

Business is booming for the company. The Laiterie de Kerguillet’s buildings are no longer big enough to produce cheese. Cheese-making entails a lengthy manufacturing process and a substantial period of ageing (also known as ripening). It is the complete opposite of milk and dairy activities which are ultra-fresh products with much shorter cycle times. As the storage capacity has been reached on the premises, cheeses only account for 5% of the company’s activity. Yet, demand is up, and larger volumes of these fantastic products are sought after.

Therefore, there is every reason to relocate the cheese activity to new, bigger workshops better suited to forming cheeses. She has decided to take on this challenge to take over the Laiterie de Kerguillet’s cheese activity and set up business in a new factory by creating a new company, the Fromagerie d’Arvor.

In choosing this name, Juliette is asserting the extent of her commitment to the company’s history and family dimension, something she wants to preserve at all costs. Arvor, a Celtic name from Brittany, means ‘on the sea’. Laiterie d’Arvor was the name previously used by the milk dairy in 1920. Fast-forward to 2021, and the Fromagerie d’Arvor combines the past to propel itself into the future.

After development work on the site, the Fromagerie d’Arvor will open its door at the end of 2021 in Kervignac, Morbihan. It will focus solely on producing soft cheeses and unpasteurised hard cheeses using three types of 100% organic, local milk.

Via the Réseau Entreprendre, Juliette has committed to receiving support from Sophie Mathys for two years. They meet every month to discuss the start-up phase of the business.

Sophie Mathys, an agrifood engineer specialising in various subjects (civil engineering, biochemistry, microbiology, etc.), made her mark as an Industry Director in the food sector. She is now Director of Operations at la belle-iloise, supervising both our Quiberon production site and our Saint-Avé logistics, assembly and shipping platform.

For Sophie, it was an obvious choice to choose Juliette and the Fromagerie d’Arvor from among the projects submitted for the Réseau Entreprendre’s call for tender. This project clearly presents challenges in which Sophie excels. Sophie has extensive knowledge of all the operational activities a company can have, in particular technical, health, safety and environment (HSE) and quality specificities involved in manufacturing food products.

“What we are doing here is not consultancy work. We don’t make decisions for the project leader or define the strategy. We are on the sidelines, supporting. It is an approach that seeks to validate the project with questions, information, names, and networking. In essence, it’s coaching.” Sophie’s role is to provide clarity.

Sophie sees this as a personal investment, and devotes herself to it wholeheartedly: “I am proud to participate in this project and give my time for free. I do it because I want to. It’s a wonderful project; I believe in it. And what’s more, I love cheese!”

This match made perfect sense. The two share common personality traits: enthusiasm, courage, exacting standards, and a go-getting and competitive attitude. “We got on like a house on fire straight away.” Juliette appreciates the fact she has support and a friendly ear if needed to launch her cheese dairy. “Sophie’s extensive experiences are added strength for me to forge ahead. I leave every one of our talks feeling even more confident. Sophie is really constructive and a good listener.She knows how to share what she’s learnt so that I ask myself the right questions. I treat every piece of advice like a precious resource waiting to be tapped.”

While visiting our Quiberon site, you can see how happy Juliette is. “La belle-iloise is an iconic company in the Morbihan area. Seeing its production workshops has also been highly instructive in the future setup for the cheese dairy. I can identify with the local family feel at la belle-iloise and its values. I can’t wait to get going and enjoy every moment of this shared adventure together!”

La belle-iloise is just as delighted to be there for Juliette through Sophie. We are proud to support a local, forward-looking initiative that stimulates the area’s economy. And just like la Belle-Iloise, the business model is rooted in family and craft know-how.

For us, Act Consciously is also about creating strong human ties by banking on support to consolidate the projects of the future hand-in-hand.

We wish Juliette and La Fromagerie d’Arvor the very best of success!

* OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development