Parmentine renovated their fresh potato production, stocking and packaging unit in Fère-Champenoise in 2015, making the whole factory entirely machine-run. The €10 million investment will allow the factory to package 400 tons of potatoes per day, i.e. 50,000 tons per year. The company has 50 full time employees in the factory.
Thierry Lamblin, the company’s Marketing and Development Director explains that “The whole chain has been automated. Before, we sorted the potatoes visually and by hand”. 10 packaging chains have been set up, each for a different variety and calibre.
The 10 or so different varieties of potatoes come from 4 main departments : the Marne, Aube, Seine et Marne and the Ardennes (but the factory also has supplies from Beauce and Picardy). Parmentine has contracts with 57 farmers and production covers a total 900 hectares. Some of the farmers are shareholders in the company.
The site can stock 16,000 tons of potatoes, and on top of that the farmers have 34,000 tons waiting. This large stock allows them to spread their activity out over the year, despite harvest being from August to October, “Above quality and price, shops want to have products on the shelves”. Mr Lamblin explains that their stocking capacity also means that they can stand up to the particularly fluctuate European market where “The price per ton can vary from €50 to €350 depending on the year. It is very volatile”.
French potatoes are recognised for their quality and variety. Parmentine exports 35% of their volume, mainly on the continent and less so to the Middle East.
Nothing is wasted in the factory, water used to wash potatoes is recycled and potatoes with defaults are processed (e.g. into mashed potatoes or for animal feed).
Parmentine’s latest product, the “Cup”, is based on the concept of pasta boxes and is a 250g plastic container of small potatoes and a sauce ready to microwave.