the essential
Since April 30, 84 refrigerated lockers have been installed in front of the “Lait’agence d’or” store in Lacaune. The lockers contain cheese, yogurt or butter available 24/7.
Self-service cheese day and night. This is the challenge that Maxime Fabre, son of the owners of the Laiterie Fabre in Viane, took on with his “Casiers du fromageger”. The concept is simple, in front of their “Lait’agence d’or” store in Lacaune, 84 refrigerated lockers filled with platters of cheese, butter and yogurt are available for purchase between 12 and 24 euros, 24/7 .
Maxime is the youngest member of the family business. Created in 1948 by his great-grandfather, the young Tarnais has been working there on a work-study basis since September alongside his training. To modernize the company, he became interested in the concept of food lockers at the start of the year: “I saw this system starting to develop on the networks with fruits and vegetables or bread, so I I asked myself why not do it with our products”, relates Maxime. He approached the structure “Le Casier Français”, market leader, and on April 30 the lockers were operational.
“The assortments are never the same so people don’t get bored”
The objective was to offer simple and accessible operation for everyone. “We were afraid that older people would have difficulty buying.” Using a central tablet, all you have to do is choose your locker then insert your card, the locker in question opens automatically and all you have to do is collect the goods. The racks are filled with more or less product depending on the price: discovery purchase, craving purchase or pleasure purchase. “The assortments are never the same so that people don’t get bored,” explains Maxime.
“It’s a complement to our store, we are closed on Sundays and Mondays and we often had people who came because they were missing cheese or butter.” It is rather regular customers who are targeted by this system: “It will not replace the advice of a saleswoman but for those who already know our products it can help.”
“Eventually, we would like to add cold meats”
“Since May 1st, the lockers have made a turnover of around 3,500 euros, for something that helps out, that’s very good.” These lockers represent the future for the young man: “We have a lot of colleagues who call us to do the same,” explains the Vianais, “I would like to duplicate the concept.” He wants to offer partnerships to future entrepreneurs throughout France who wish to invest in a business: “We do 50/50 to set them up and then we supply them with our products”.
“Eventually, we would like to add cold meats.” To energize everything, a competition is set up to win the equivalent of the products in a rack: “We reward the person who buys at the most unlikely time,” explains Maxime, “thanks to my application I can see precisely at what time is each assortment purchased, for the moment we have one who came to buy at 4 a.m.!”.
