170th anniversary for Bonduelle

2023 marks the 170th anniversary of an adventure born in 1853. The history of the family and the Bonduelle company are inseparable. The torch of the family business has already passed through seven generations, with a vocation that remains intact over time: placing plant based at the heart of food.

Christophe Bonduelle gives us the history of his family, the chronology of events, and some anecdotes concerning the evolution of the group in honor of this anniversary.

A family's project
It was in Marquette-lez-Lille, in the North of France, that Louis Bonduelle-Dalle and his friend Louis Lesaffre-Roussel joined forces to create “Lesaffre et Bonduelle”, a company based on a distillery. In 1862, the duo of friends and their family acquired an old farm in the small town of Renescure, which would become the historic headquarters, a key point in this adventure.

Over time, with a launch in yeast, a lot of work and thanks to daring investors, the company prospered and the family succession continued until reaching the 4th Bonduelle generation. The family is growing more and more and hands are available to work. It was then that Pierre and Benoît Bonduelle transformed an abandoned barn to embark on a new project that would last: a canning workshop for farm products! It was the installation of an entire arsenal, as well as 16 hectares of plantations which were put in place and which initially allowed the production of 90,000 cans of peas in July 1926.

Over the years, the company remains in a family cocoon, sharing this passion for the cultivation of the land and for entrepreneurship, and always welcoming new workers.

The XXIth century and the Internationalisation of Bonduelle
In 2004, the Louis Bonduelle Foundation was born, an event which supports a fundamental value of the group which is the sustainable improvement of eating behaviors by making plates green. This foundation wants to inform different audiences, act on the ground and support research.