Alpina Savoie continues to grow despite a declining organic market – Le Journal des Entreprises

After the acquisition in 2022 of the Alsatian company Pâtes Grand-Mère by the Aster group to which it belongs, the pasta manufacturer Alpina Savoie (250 employees, including 100 at Pâtes Grand-Mère) continues to develop despite an inflationary context and a declining organic market. The growth in volumes of the oldest French pastry maker, based in Chambéry (Savoie), amounted to 5% between 2021 and 2022, with a turnover of 62 million euros in 2022.

Good results based on commercial choices in direct contact with contemporary issues. “Sobriety is omnipresent, the Covid crisis has underlined the importance of eating well and the environmental issue is of concern to more and more French people. We offer French products that are healthy, responsible and ethical”, supports Agnès Epalle, marketing director from Alpina Savoie.

Initiator of the first French organic wheat sector, in 2012, Alpina Savoie has also been focusing on sustainable agriculture since 1997. “Even if we are currently experiencing a 2% drop in the organic pasta market, we continue to support this offer because it corresponds to our values ​​and our DNA”, continues Agnès Epalle.

Extension of ranges

In order to adapt to consumer behavior, the pastier is refocusing on its essential references, not without innovating. In 2022, it launched a new range, Les Végétales, which incorporates legumes and facilitates vegetarian meals. This expansion of the ranges meets not only consumer expectations but also the constraints of collective catering, subject to the Egalim law in terms of purchasing sustainable products and vegetarianism. “We are imagining economic solutions for the catering sector, which is facing recruitment difficulties and rising energy prices, with our no-cook pasta for example”, supports Agnès Epalle.

In this context of multiple crises (energy, raw materials, etc.), the pasta market is holding up, with a very slight increase of 0.8% in volume in mass distribution, knowing that the distribution of the business of the Rhône-Alpes brand is based on 43% on mass distribution, 36% on industry, 10% on catering and 11% on export.

Boosted production capacities

To consolidate its positions, Alpina Savoie is counting on the production capacities of Pâtes Grand-Mère, which allow it to complete its ranges of long pasta, which the group did not manufacture until now. “This takeover in 2022 was a major investment. We are now focusing our efforts on adapting workstations to improve the quality of life at work for our employees with handling aids or IT tools for production management” , says Jean-Philippe Lefrançois, Managing Director of Alpina Savoie. “We want to support our growth by increasing our skills, in particular through recruitment. Unfortunately, we are having difficulty finding candidates”, specifies the general manager of the first growing French brand in the pasta market (4.1% of the market). in retail).