155 employees are affected by the closure of the Quimper factory, the last of the famous brand to be established in France.
The sardine and mackerel workshops have already stopped operating. The last Saupiquet factory in France is permanently closing its doors this Friday, December 20 in Quimper. It leaves 155 employees behind, who are leaving as part of a social plan. The production of this symbol of “made in France” will now take place in Spain and Morocco. “It’s more interesting to relocate for a group that wants to make money,” deplores Valérie Bonder, CFDT delegate. The representatives qualify everything the same, with the Parisianthe job protection plan of “satisfying”.
With France 3 Regions, Valérie Bonder believes that“around thirty [de salariés] will retire in the more or less long term”. The other licensees, she specifies, “will take advantage of this time to train in another profession or refine certain knowledge [ou] go to another job”, the vast majority in the department.
Sales down 25%
The end of this long history, Saupiquet was created at the end of the 19th century and the Quimper factory had been operating for more than 50 years, finds its explanation in the “significant production overcapacity” of the Breton site, according to a press release from Bolton Food, the multinational that the French brand joined in 2000. “Quimper had one of the lowest utilization rates in the group. [La direction n’avait donc] no other choice than to concentrate its industrial resources to regain competitiveness.” According to the Echoes, “sales in France of Saupiquet brand sardines and mackerel had fallen by 25% in the space of four years, leading to a loss of around five million euros in France”.
On its website, Saupiquet retraces the path traveled by this company which has become emblematic thanks to its products but also to its communication. Arsène Saupiquet, originally from Cantal and creator of the brand, launched his first cannery project specializing in sardines in 1877. The Saupiquet brand was created in 1891, but the name was already recognized by the general public thanks to a then revolutionary project: a tin can with a key opening. “Rectangular, opening on the side like opening a pack of cigarettes, it is a medium-sized box which will establish itself as a standard throughout the industry”claims the group. This was followed by advertising campaigns signed by cartoonists, a diversification in the 1950s (“Here is the new Saupiquet cassoulet!”) before returning to its origins in the 1990s.
The Quimper factory was established in 1958. The group’s fourth mackerel production line, in 2016. It did not last a decade.
