Opponents are jubilant. The Le Duff group fulminates. This Tuesday, May 30, the Rennes-based agrifood company announced the abandonment of its industrial bakery factory project that it wanted to build in Liffré (Ille-et-Vilaine) for its Bridor brand. Contested by several associations, in particular for its water consumption, the project was the subject of several appeals to the courts. “Bridor cannot wait ten years to build a new factory”, explains the company headed by Louis Le Duff in a press release, specifying to put an end to the project “with regret for Brittany and its collaborators”.
The Le Duff group had started research in 2017 for the construction of a new production site for its industrial bakery products. In full growth, especially for export, the company explained that the pursuit of its development required the construction of a new site. The municipality of Liffré, long led by the current president of the Brittany region Loïg Chesnais-Girard, had been selected for the establishment on a 20-hectare site, of which 6 hectares would have been occupied by buildings and 5 by car parks and loading areas. Several environmental associations had denounced the choice of this plot, which houses a wetland.
The big rant of Louis Le Duff
This project, estimated at 250 million euros, aims to “strengthen the current production capacities” of the Servon-sur-Vilaine (Ille-et-Vilaine) and Louverné (Mayenne) factories “which have reached their development capacity “, according to Bridor. The group promised 500 jobs. “We have weighed things carefully, including the government’s most recent initiatives in terms of industrial establishment. This time scale is incompatible with the growing demand from our customers”, regrets Philippe Morin, CEO of Bridor.
In November, the boss Louis Le Duff had pushed a rant. The one who is part of the 50 largest French fortunes believed that the slowdown in his project was due to a political dispute, and cited the names of defeated candidates in the regional elections.
Three billion euros in turnover
The abandonment of the Liffré site prompted the group to invest more in its other French sites. Le Duff also acquired the Panidor company and its 500 employees in Portugal, as well as the Lecoq Cuisine company in North America. The capacity of the plant in Montreal, Canada, has been doubled. Present in more than 100 countries around the world, Bridor represents almost half of the three billion euros in turnover of the Le Duff group, which also owns the Del Arte, La Brioche Dorée and Le Fournil de Pierre brands. It employs over 35,000 people worldwide.