Planète Végétal (ex Pot au Pin) is the number 1 independent French carrot producer. Based in the heart of the Landes de Gascogne park, this SME is doing well, and they are trying to help the environment too.
1 million sachets will be on offer in the fruit and vegetable aisles this summer, offering customers, via a simple click online (www.planetevegetal.com) to save the Landes black bee.
10 years ago Planète Végétal's environmental preservation policies began along with social actions, such as supplying the Restos du coeur with carrots in the winter. Last year they gave 175 tons of carrots for 1.2 million meals. Bertrand Cuisse, Project Manager, says that these operations are good for their image and that ''without really investing in advertising, we have 75,000 friends on Facebook''.
The company makes an annual €20M turnover, of which 8-10% is for export. They produce between 35-40,000 tons/year over their 1,400 ha in France (plus 300 ha in Portugal to ensure production is always strong). Their 170 employees deal with all levels of the production chain, ''we seed, farm, harvest, clean and package our production on site,'' explains Bertrand Cuisse.
''Our strength is that we produce less and less in bulk'', packaging and variety is chosen to please consumer demand. Having introduced a range of small carrots to munch on, big carrots to grate, they are now launching into leeks (sachets of white leeks).