Sylvia and Véronique Pellegrin, two sisters, have pooled their skills and a mutual love of nature to keep up the company’s reputation as a specialist in top quality foliage and cut flowers.
“Pellegrin has been going for four generations,” explains Sylvia. At first, it was located at Les Halles de Paris, where my maternal great-grandparents, producers in the Bièvre department, used to sell their flowers. Later, my paternal grandfather had the idea to sell asparagus in the 1940s, the only foliage used then. In 1969, he came to work at Rungis with his son, our father, each in a particular place. They differentiated the company’s activity due to the arrival of new foliage. The maternal side of the family were horticulturists and used to sell wild flowers at Rungis. After doing a scientific baccalaureat, I studied at the Assistance Publique radiology school and then worked for fifteen years at the Henri Mondor hospital. Veronique studied at Ecole Tunon des Hôtesses de Paris and worked for a large company as executive assistant. In 1987, I decided to work for my father’s company and Veronique joined us in 1990. After some health problems, my father stopped working in 1996 and we took over running the business.
We essentially do foliage and some highly targeted cut flowers (amaryllis, gypsophila, freesia, tulips, etc.). For these, we had to work a bit with Holland, because we couldn’t find them in the South of France or Paris region. Our flagship products are still ivy (40% of our sales) from four regions in France, eucalyptus from the South of France, various varieties of viburnum, laurestine, fir and pine, myrtle and palm trees. We have about 150 listed foliage products, which differ depending on the season, and 50 listed cut flower products. Over 80% of our products are French. Our clientele is mostly Parisian and rather upmarket. It is notably composed of decorators (for interiors, weddings, receptions, etc.), florists and caterers. We also export (Africa, United Arab Emirates) 2% of our volumes. Rungis is a buoyant market and I am convinced that florists will continue to come here to find the most beautiful range of products. We might tell them in the style of Paul Verlaine: “Here are fruits, flowers, leaves and branches, and here is Rungis which beats only for you.”.
