Three months before the end-of-year holidays, Maison Delpeyrat is already in a rush. From October, activity triples. The company sees its number of employees increase. It must be said that the deadline is particularly decisive. Maison Delpeyrat, which employs the equivalent of 800 full-time workers including seasonal workers, achieves… 90% of its foie gras sales at Christmas.
In “a still fragile duck market” which “is emerging from four years of avian flu” and “a sudden drop in production”, the company now hopes to regain health. With “the success of vaccination”, “we are slowly rebuilding this still fragile sector”, explains Christophe Bonno, general director of Maïsadour, to which Delpeyrat belongs. “Now, in a more stable period, we can start rebuilding,” also says Pierre Harambat, deputy president of Maïsadour. And glimpse the future.
The year 2025 will mark the closure of two slaughterhouses for the Delpeyrat company, one in Vendée and the other in Vic-Fezensac in the Gers. With the drop in production, the company was facing “excess slaughter capacity”, “so many empty places in the slaughterhouses which cost money”, explains Christophe Bonno. The plan: “reduce this overcapacity to have tools adapted to the number of ducks and be profitable”. “We must calibrate our industrial tool so that it complies with the offer and the market,” adds Pierre Harambat.
“Arm our sales”
To restore color to the consumption of foie gras, which has recorded a 35% drop in recent years with the absence of ducks, Maison Delpeyrat has also decided on a commercial action process: “arming the forces of sales to be stronger and seasoned when the market restarts,” presents Christophe Bonno. To strengthen its strategy, the company has set up an internal training school for its salespeople: the Delpeyrat academy, which extends over three years.
Sales will say whether the initiative is conclusive for this company, which Pierre Harambat recalls, is an “ETI”, an intermediate-sized company. “Everyone thinks Delpeyrat is a juggernaut. It is an important undertaking for us, but it is not a huge undertaking,” specifies the deputy president of Maïsadour.
Pierre Harambat remains “optimistic” about the recovery: “despite what we hear”, foie gras “remains a habit” on the tables at holiday time. Foie gras “still has a future, festive products. The French remain attached to it.”
The Delpeyrat house in figures
Created in 1890 by Pierre Delpeyrat in Sarlat (Dordogne), Maison Delpeyrat is today part of the Maïsadour cooperative group. The company has a turnover of between 200 and 300 million euros. She works with 350 producers. Within the framework of Maïsadour, “our breeders are our customers, our suppliers and our shareholders”, highlights Pierre Harambat. Delpeyrat markets 504 references in the fatty duck sector, including 270 references in foie gras, and 97 references in sausages (smoked salmon, etc.).
