Formerly called Les vergers d'Escoutes, Escoutes is a real institution in the agri-food sector.
The family business from the Lot valley, today based in Sainte-Livrade, continues to diversify and offer its customers a wide range of dried fruit prunes and garnished baskets.
The company founded in 1890 by Alfred and Marie Vergnes cultivates prunes in Penne-d'Agenais.
In 1986, Michel and Claudine were pioneers in the agri-food industry by being the first to create a shop on the farm.
In 2000 they left management to their children who had joined them in the 90s. The processing workshop left the farm to move to the Penne-d'Agenais factory.
Since 2017, the move of the factory to Sainte-Livrade has made it possible to master all manufacturing know-how: roasting seeds and processing soft fruits and making gourmet baskets.
“What differentiates us from our competitors who sell prunes or other fruits is that with us everything is done artisanally and by hand, here there is no hellish pace, the prunes are stuffed one by one, the fruit is bagged is done at a pace that allows for good quality control, it is this quality that is the driving force of the company, and also of all employees,” Gilles Vergnes would like to point out.
Christmas holidays on the horizon
A few weeks before the end-of-year holidays, the workshop for making filled baskets is buzzing like a beehive in the middle of summer.
The smile displayed by the employees testifies to the joy and pleasure of working in a fraternal and friendly atmosphere, here Gilles Vergnes greets them one by one.
The success of the company cannot be denied (more than forty employees working there all year round), but it is above all in the selection of the products used that Escoute stands out from the competition.
“Our experience as a grower/producer naturally led us to create our own “Southwest Almonds” sectors, and soon corn and sunflower, this allows us to control the quality of taste and flavors of all of our products ” explains the business manager.
“My brother Sylvain, who takes care of production, selects with the greatest rigor the fruits that we do not produce, such as cashew nuts which come from the Binh Phuoc region in Vietnam, this is what allows us to guarantee optimal and constant quality of our products”, concludes Gilles Vergnes with a smile.
