This Loire-Atlantique company has been “bringing back its strawberries” for more than fifty years to the delight of the taste buds. The Fraiseraie is “almost” a must when you are tourists in the region, and often a little treat when you live there. The famous brand of fruit sorbets compiles sixteen points of sale (twelve shops and four kiosks), including fifteen in the department (a shop also in Noirmoutier in Vendée), and two crêperies, the latest of which is freshly installed in Nantes.
In 2015, Alain Têtedoie took over from the original founder, Joseph Maillard. Immediately, this former market gardener from Saint-Julien-de-Concelles plans to “export” his brand beyond the borders of 44. “We imagined extending from Vannes to La Rochelle for example, remembers the one who co-manages the company with his daughter, Typhaine, and his son, Pierre. But, today, this is no longer relevant. It is a profession which is very seasonal and dependent on the weather. And then, own store management [il n’y a aucune franchise] at more than 100 km, it’s complicated. Alain Têtedoie had a bitter experience with the Sables-d’Olonne point of sale, which closed in 2019.
The ambition to “strengthen self-production”
For six years, the company, headquartered in Pornic, has preferred – instead of expanding geographically – to consolidate its “reputation” by continuing to produce its products as much as possible and by diversifying to go beyond its “reputation for sorbets and ice creams”. “We are a bit of a pioneer in the short circuit,” insists Alain Têtedoie. Here it is from farm to fork. We are perhaps unique to combine so many trades. “In a few figures, the Fraiseraie is: 150 tonnes per year of fruit production (mostly strawberries and raspberries) on two sites (Pornic and Saint-Julien-de-Concelles), 200,000 liters of ice cream per year, 30 flavors for sorbets and 10 for ice cream, cooked products (fruit jellies, jelly, etc.), but also pastries made in workshops for a turnover (excluding Covid-19) of up to 7 million per year (+ 30% development since 2015).
The next goal is to “strengthen our self-production”. For this, the managers of the Fraiseraie acquired agricultural land in Pornic to produce red fruits such as currants, blackberries, blackcurrants, etc. “We currently produce 50% of the fruits we offer [fraises et framboises], we want to go to 80% between five to ten years ”, hopes Alain Têtedoie.
But, by the way, why do strawberry sorbets from the Fraiseraie have such a good reputation? “There is no miraculous recipe,” smiles the boss. First of all, there is the quality of the raw material: strawberries of the Cirafine variety, whose plants come from the center of France, but which are not organic, simply because they are grown soilless. Then, the rate of fruit in our sorbets, of the order of 60%, is much higher than in conventional ice creams. “This gives the Fraiseraie sorbets a lot of sparkle and flavor, and an irrepressible desire to come back to them …” There is now a real emotional relationship between customers and the Fraiseraie, observes Alain Têtedoie. People have sparkling eyes when we talk to us and they are willing to wait twenty minutes before being served. When we eat our ice creams, the weather is often good, that we are on vacation and that we have a good time. “