Local apples and pears: unfailing support from Elior to Vergers de Sennevières
Over the past five years, Elior has bought more than 300 tonnes of apples and pears from Vergers de Sennevières for schoolchildren in the Île-de-France region. This fruit is delivered to around fifteen central kitchens, in towns such as Fresnes, Chelles, Liancourt or Epône. “We are very satisfied with this partnership with Elior since the number of central kitchens served has risen consistently,” explains Alexandre Prot, director of Oise-based Vergers de Sennevières. Alexandre Prot took over the reins of the family business seven years ago. With level 3 High Environmental Value certification and orchards rated as 100% eco-responsible, the company is committed to respecting the environment and biodiversity. Its apples and pears are mostly sold to restaurants or stores within a radius of 100 kilometers of the orchards where they grew. “We are delighted that school children can enjoy local products. The educational approach is attractive: we are grooming future palates, with quality fruit grown within a few kilometers from the kitchens”.
We are delighted that school children can enjoy local products.
Over and above the impressive volumes, this partnership offers the manager a further advantage: the sale, at a fair price, of fruit not meeting traditional size criteria or having visual defects. Such fruit is difficult to value. "Thanks to Elior, we have found an outlet for this fruit, which is then transformed into fruit purees for children", comments Alexandre Prot. This partnership allows his company to sell nearly 20% of its off-size fruit while remaining profitable. " It is very important for us ".
Thanks to Elior, we have found an outlet for this fruit, which is then transformed into fruit purees for children.
There was a concrete demonstration of the strength of this partnership recently. “This spring, we were left with lot of apples due to lower than usual sales. We called Elior, and the message was heard on the internal relay". The central kitchens increased their purchases of apples which not only gave an economic boost to Vergers de Sennevières but also gave rise to new recipes much appreciated by the young guests: apple and blackcurrant or red fruit purees. “This helping hand was really appreciated!”, concludes Alexandre Prot.
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