Tock, tock, tock, tock… On the automated production line, thousands of small brown balls collide to lodge in the plastic cells. A little further, they will be covered with a blister before being put in boxes and shipped to the four corners of Europe. Welcome to Montaigu, in Vendée, in “the largest food supplement factory in France”. At the house of Have a, where 200 million tablets are produced per year and twice as many capsules, the machines only stop when they need to be cleaned. “Nearly 200 people work here day and night,” smiles the director of the industrial site, David Dos Santos, cap on his head. We have invested in increasingly efficient equipment to accelerate the pace. »
Achieving double-digit growth since its creation (born from a merger) in 2017, Havea is in excellent health. And yet, the name of the man who presents himself as “European leader in natural health” is unknown to the general public. “We market 1,200 product references through around ten brands that we have acquired, at a rate of one or two per year,” explains Nicolas Brodetsky, the CEO. Among the latest, Bear for Benefits and its “well-being gummy bears” or the nutricosmetics specialist Biocyte extend the list led by the very popular Aragan or Vitavea. An intense acquisition policy which allowed the company, a thousand employees, half of which are based in Vendée, to achieve a turnover of 300 million euros for 2023.
Sleep, immunity, tone…
It must be said that the context also has something to do with it. Because in a decade, the food supplements market, run by other key players like Arkopharma or Uriach, has literally exploded. So much so that 60% of French people say they have taken it last year, a figure could be even higher as confusion with certain medications without a prescription can be easy. Based on Omega-3, vitamins, probiotics, magnesium and even zinc, these products promising to fill dietary deficiencies and improve sleep, immunity, tone and even blood circulation are now available. accessible everywhere, and particularly in pharmacies and parapharmacies where a large majority are sold.
“We are not here to cure but to improve prevention, well-being, quality of life,” explains Nicolas Brodetsky, who relies on a network of health professionals to argue his point. “At the time when supplements were associated with slimming, there was certainly a lot of marketing,” recognizes the 42-year-old boss, who sometimes refers to customers as “consumers”, sometimes as “patients”. But with effectiveness increasingly demonstrated by clinical studies, certain well-known active ingredients which are no longer debated, natural health is taking off. »
Eggshell collagen
Havea, which has its own laboratory and around a hundred marketing managers, intends to go even higher, with a growth objective of 15 to 20% each year, particularly abroad. “We are constantly on the lookout for trends and needs,” explains Sandrine Malezieu, head of the nutrition R&D team, which works on 200 projects per year. One of our new features is collagen in capsules, from the eggshell membrane. There are a lot of demands at the moment, for the skin and the joints. »
If 80% of Havea’s turnover comes from food supplements, the company also has a cosmetics branch, with for example the booming baby care and diaper brand Biolane. It is also on the Montaigu site that Naturé Moi hygiene products are manufactured.