When you're not working there, it's rare to go inside. Along the 4-lane road which connects Ernée to Laval, in the commune of Chailland, the SNV company is nevertheless a big machine.
Bought in 2016 by the Sarthois LDC group and integrated since 2023 into the Volena regional center with six other Mayenne companies*, the site processes more than 200,000 chickens every day, 80% of which reach the shelves of supermarkets and the rest the kitchens of restaurants, industry, or go for export.
“The Chailland site specializes in Janzé red label chicken and chicken labeled “animal welfare”, explains Arnaud Boinard, general director of Volena. These are chickens which comply with European recommendations regarding their conditions of birth, breeding and slaughter. »
Demystifying professions
Chickens which are killed, cut up and packaged on site by around a hundred employees, out of the 191 in the company. “ We are in professions with still a lot of human intervention”, underlines Arnaud Boinard, Jobs carried out in sometimes difficult conditions that the company wants to make known and demystify. “At SNV in Chailland, we have more than 50 different professions,” he explains, citing the restraining of chickens for example.
“This involves attaching the wings of chickens which will be sold whole. » One of the professions currently sought by the company. “We have 40 permanent positions to fill, continues Arnaud Boinard. We want to strengthen our maintenance workforce, we are looking for workshop managers, production employees and forklift operators in particular. »
Objective: 300,000 chickens per week
Hiring, accompanied by internal training, which takes place in a context of increasing poultry consumption in France. “It is currently the second most consumed meat in France, with 28 kg per year and per inhabitant. And has ith the decline in purchasing power, customers are turning even more towards this accessible source of protein. Sales are increasing by 7 to 8% per year, especially in cut poultry. »
To absorb this growing demand, SNV Chailland, which has a turnover of 70 million euros per year, will increase its production in 2025 until it reaches the maximum capacity of the site, i.e. 300,000 chickens per week.
*SNV Laval, Louverné, Château-Gontier; Rémi Ramon in Javron-les-Chapelles and Lassay-les-Châteaux and STC transport in Chailland.
