Gelagri – a French manufacturer of frozen food including vegetables based in Landerneau – is celebrating its 40th anniversary, reports Le Telegramme.
The company was founded in the late 1960s and at first it operated a small production unit for strawberries and artichokes. Later on, Gelagri opened a plant in 1979.
Now, nearly 70,000 tons of frozen products, mainly vegetables leave the factory. This branch of the Triskalia cooperative counts 860 employees, including 470 in Loudéac. 600 farmers supply the Loudéac site with fresh vegetables. Before ending up on consumers’ tables, the spinach, beans, cabbages, peas, flageolets and root vegetables are sent to automated production lines.
To remain at the relevant, Gelagri invests a lot: EUR8m per year in France between 2016 and 2018, EUR15-20m per year until 2021 in France and Spain. The company invests in terms of research and development (a new product is elaborated each week on average), or in equipment so that the production tools can adapt, almost in real time, to the harvest seasons of the different vegetables and to the tastes of the consumers.
60% of the production goes to the French market, but Gelagri also exports to Spain, Germany, and more and more to the United States, where French beans (green beans) are very popular.
