Native to Tours, Francis Fauchère (46 years old) was born "au cul des vaches" (right behind the cows) as he describes it. His father - a meat wholesaler, retail butcher, slaughterhouse manager and breeder - set his course: "Finish your studies and learn how to kill a cow…

" After gaining his baccalaureate at the age of 16, Francis Fauchère enrolled at the Ecole des Cadres, and at the same time joined Socopa where he stayed for fourteen years. His evident skills led to him taking on substantial responsibilities at an early age. "I learned everything there was to know about the meat trade from breeding through to how to slice a steak. I worked my way through every job and handled every possible type of beef, veal, lamb and pork product. By the time I left in 1991 following the creation of the "Fermiers du Maine" label, I was director of the Mans slaughterhouse (80 employees). I came to Rungis with the intention of eventually setting up my own business. I first joined Pommier Trépin (tripe products), leaving as CEO five years later having gained valuable experience. Next, I met the director of Eurodis (a European distribution company established in 1985). Our business relationship grew and in 1996 I bought into the company capital, just one month before the first BSE crisis hit. In 2000, we had to face the second "mad cow disease" crisis which proved far tougher to weather. In 2002, I bought out the entire capital and transformed the company, restructuring it and adapting it to fit the current market. Today, Eurodis counts nearly forty employees who I would like to praise for their high level of professional skill and unswerving loyalty to the company.

In a quality-driven market, industrials are a key force that powers the valorisation and distribution of a range of lesser products around a central high-value product, and drives developments in food hygiene and traceability. We sell 9,000 tonnes of meat a year which breaks down as 6,000 tonnes of beef, 2,000 tonnes of veal and 1,000 tonnes of lamb. We sell to every distribution circuit and have a highly diverse customer portfolio including traditional butchers (50%), commercial and institutional catering businesses (30%), and supermarkets and hypermarkets (20%). Among all the beef breeds that we sell, the Blanc Bleu Belge stands out in particular. This high-quality beef breed perfectly matches current demand in the traditional butcher's sector. Fully traceable, it rivals the Charolais and the Limousin with its tender, low-fat meat that shows hardly any marbling. A fairly rare breed that is expensive to produce, the Blanc Bleu Belge represents 5% of our beef and veal sales.