• Can you describe your background and your company?

I am Jean Hilaire de Bailliencourt, an agricultural engineer by training. When I moved to the Basque country 20 years ago, I realized that all the canneries in Saint Jean de Luz had closed, even though there used to be 17. Saint Jean de Luz used to be the sardine and tuna capital of France!

So it's here that we've reopened a cannery with fish from local fishing. And to go all the way with the locavore approach, we applied the compass method and looked for supplies as close as possible to home. Indeed, organic products that go around the world 3 times lose their meaning... So we buy our fish at the Saint Jean de Luz auction, and organic olive oil and salt in the Southern Basque Country.

Our approach is to offer organic recipes based on wild fish from responsible and local fishing.

Our recipes are organic, 100% natural and without any nonsense! (no additives, no colorings, no allergens except fish and very little salt).

Our choice of packaging is consistent with our approach since we chose glass for its transparency and recyclability.

• In your opinion, who are the future players in food innovation in France?

I think that as meat consumption declines, we will have to offer very high quality products. Consume less but better. Also tell the story of the product. Transparency is what will enable French companies to stand out from their foreign competitors.

 

• What are the key success factors for a company like yours?   

The key to success in our company is to see the process through to the end. We have been committed to organic and local products right from the start. History seems to have proved us right and even if we are no longer alone in this segment, it remains a great satisfaction that organic is becoming the norm.

We must be constantly vigilant and consistent.

And digital technology should help us to keep consumers properly informed.

• On a personal note, what other food innovation would you have liked to invent?
  

I'd like to have invented a “food app” that rates products not just in terms of nutritional quality, but also in social and environmental terms. It seems absurd to me that organic products that have circumnavigated the globe 3 times should end up on our plates.