How did your business start ?

The business started out a century ago in Saint-Julien-de-Lampon (24). At the time, Léopold Espinet, our ancestor, used to buy foie gras and other pre-cut products from the markets of Perigord Noir, which he resold to canned food manufacturers.
He used to ship poultry in bulk and he set up a business storing eggs for biscuit and canning factories. My father Jean-Claude took over the business in the 1950s and built it up, adding a small canning plant. In 1977, the company gradually specialized in foie gras and fattened duck by-products.

How did the business develop ?

I joined the family business in 1978 and my father and I set up a distribution warehouse in the Paris region two years later to deliver traditional products from the Perigord to the capital’s caterers and restaurants. In 1990, as our cutting unit in Saint-Julien-de-Lampon no longer met EEC standards because we could not expand, we moved our activities to the industrial zone of Périgueux (Boulazac, 16 staff). At the same time, we had to close down the warehouse in the Paris region due to defaulting customers and just supply Rungis Market. Alongside our activity of cutting fattened duck and sorting, packaging and shipping foie gras, we developed a processing activity (canning fattened duck products, slicing, freezing foie gras, etc.) in Sarlat (7 employees). My son Guillaume joined me in 2008 and he takes care of the commercial side of the business.

What is your activity ?

Our activity starts after the duck is slaughtered. From production, we take delivery of the foie gras on one side, and the ducks on the other. The livers are sorted and selected at our premises according to several parameters (size, quality, texture, etc.), then they are packaged and shipped to our clients as ordered, or sent to our Sarlat plant for processing (fresh or frozen foie gras escalopes on demand, canned or in jars). The whole ducks are cut at our premises (into legs, wings, magrets, fillets, gizzards, drumsticks) for sale raw, or sent to our processing plant (preserves, special recipes, etc.). We take delivery of 200,000 fattened ducks a year, which represent 600 tons of top-of-the-line processed products. This is actually IGP-certified “foie gras from the Perigord” and there is no doubt that tradition and quality are preserved in the foie gras from Perigord. We are under contract with a producer (the Terre du Sud cooperative, 3rd largest in the South-West) with whom production schedules are defined.

Our daily problem is maintaining the right balance between production intake volumes and the volumes sold. Our Sarlat plant functions as a client to some extent – a buffer to help adjust this balance. We therefore have to optimise the sorting to satisfy the maximum number of clients and reduce inventory.

Who are your clients ?

We supply about 1,300 clients. For fresh products, 60% of our clients are canning factories, caterers and restaurants from the region and 40% are national distributors (Rungis, supermarkets, etc.) or exporters (Japan). In processed products (cans), 80% are large and medium-sized retailers from the region and 20% distributors who operate nationally. 20% of our clients account for 80% of our turnover.

What is your development strategy ?

Right now, it mostly consists of retaining clients, stricter control on receivables and satisfying the clientele as best as possible by meeting more specific needs. We are also hoping to develop foreign markets, like Japan, where we have been working for four years and for which we have made a specific product line and packaging.

How is the fattened duck market doing ?

This market is becoming increasingly difficult for small companies. In these uncertain times, the markets are shrinking just when the large French groups have a production surplus. This causes price distortions, while consumption of foie gras has dropped steadily since the beginning of the year. As a result, 2010 is looking like a tough year and we will have to wait until 2011 to see a return to a more balanced market, assuming that everyone makes an effort.  

What do you think of Rungis Market?

It’s a beautiful market and definitely the largest in terms of fresh foods. It remains unavoidable, and every producer has to be there. That is why our products are sold there.