Stories of our employees

Semra Kartal, Global Purchasing Director

In terms of purchasing, how is the Go Clean approach concretely illustrated?

The Go Clean approach is now fully integrated into our Purchasing strategy. This essentially involves selecting and sourcing what we call sustainable ingredients, in other words more respectful of the environment.

Our commitment: to source more sustainably from a selection of 4 key ingredients: flour, eggs, palm and cocoa.

Our objective: to progress gradually but in a committed way by 2025 while securing our sourcing.

Some examples of achievements to date: we switched from caged eggs to 100% cage-free eggs and we use 99% of certified palm oil. For cocoa or palm, we are looking for certified ingredients.

What relationship do you have with your various suppliers?

Collaboration and partnership are the foundations of our relationship with our suppliers. The stakes are high for both sides: finding the sustainable ingredients we need, while keeping the technical characteristics expected for our products, and being able to supply them in sufficient quantities and in a sustainable way. We are embarking on this process together and we will need their support to move forward. Moreover all the ingredient sectors are not at the same stage of progress when it comes to sustainability depending on the location and type of market. We operate in a global market, so there are many issues to consider.

There are therefore many discussions on the subject, from technical feasibility to volume availability, it is a mutual development.

We also collaborate a lot on innovation and development topics where their ability to support us will be key for us.

What are your daily challenges and what makes you proud?

Risk management without hesitation! Purchasing is a department with significant challenges and financial impacts on the Group's results. Our daily challenge is to be able to deliver our production sites on time and with the expected quality while ensuring economic performance. But it is also about involvement in the various development projects, of which Go Clean is a part.

Being able to provide solutions to the problems encountered and secure our purchases are a real source of motivation on a daily basis.

I am proud to be able to participate in this change and to be committed to the sustainable approach at Délifrance, I am convinced that these are key issues on which we must continue our efforts.

Valérie Dupuis, Global Marketing & Innovation Director

What are the expectations of consumers today when they buy food products?

“Health” concerns related to food are essential, and have even been accentuated by the COVID-19 crisis: when shopping, 2/3 of consumers take into account the impact of what they consume on their health and well-being.

Ethics and environmental protection, that for long were considered secondary aspects, have become key criteria in choosing a product, because consumers have understood that human health and the environment’s are living things in the broad sense that are interdependent. This is reflected in the popularity of plant-based products, the demand for more natural products / without additives or called clean which are becoming the new standard; and of course the demand for organic products which is increasing every year.

Distributors play a key role in their democratization by giving them an increasingly large share of the supply.

How was the GO CLEAN programme born and how is it strategic for the company?

The "Go Clean" programme is strategic because it truly embodies the values of Délifrance: honesty, pleasure and progress. It is just one of the ways we are continuing to drive the business forward, ensuring that we remain the most relevant partner for our customers.

The program was born in 2019 and allows us to respond to strong consumer demand for more natural and authentic products, made from recipes that are simple and understandable to all. As part of this, we are accelerating our efforts in simplifying our ingredient lists, and looking for more sustainable ingredients throughout our supply chain, while working on reducing salt and sugar in our products.

Would you say that the GO CLEAN programme is a source of pride for the group's employees?

Delivering something on this scale has been huge effort for the team here and it’s been inspiring to see the passion and hard work they have put into the project. It’s not just the Délifrance team who have helped deliver this but also our strategic suppliers. It’s a big challenge to align on the specifications for products right through our supply chain and we have already made good progress:

- Since January 2020 we've been using 100% cage-free eggs for Délifrance labelled products made in our factories in Europe

- All our ready to bake plain butter croissants and pains au chocolat made in our factories in Europe are CLEAN*

- We have launched two Breakfast muffins recipes with -30% sugars compared to similar products on the market.

There’s been a lot of work done already and there’s a lot of hard work to come but we’re all excited about how this initiative will help shape the business and the Society going forward.

* CLEAN because they contain zero additives or green additives only in the list of ingredients, no artificial colour or flavour, no palm oil not certified in the recipe, no hydrogenated fats and no cage-eggs.

Maxime Chabout, Development & Innovation Manager - Viennoiserie

✔ 2007: Joined Délifrance

✔ 2017: Appointed to head up the Viennoiserie R&D department

✔ 2019: Go Clean programme launch

What do you like best about Délifrance?

I’m absolutely convinced that our health depends on the food we eat, and that each of us has ultimate responsibility for our own wellbeing.

Working at Délifrance gives me the opportunity to design innovative new products and develop our range in ways that offer our consumers better products. During the year, we launched the Go Clean programme, and I’m really proud to have been part of this initiative!

What exactly is the Go Clean programme?

The three priorities of the Go Clean programme are simplified recipes, sustainable ingredients and high nutritional value.

We are gradually removing controversial ingredients from our recipes, sometimes at the request of customers, and sometimes at our own initiative. Naturally, for some recipes, this poses a technical challenge for our teams and also puts pressure on our suppliers, but it’s this process that will allow us to help the industry move forward on essential issues like these.

What does innovation mean to you?

For me, it’s all about applying creativity to create unique experiences and improving people's lives, whether in terms of health or convenience...

My job puts me at the interface between many teams, all of whom have different needs, so my role is to offer them products that meet their expectations.

Our involvement in the innovation process begins at the earliest stage of generating new ideas alongside the sales and marketing teams, and runs right through to manufacturing. So you need good listening skills, coordination and perseverance for long-term projects like Go Clean.

The story of...

OUR GO CLEAN APPROACH