Francisco Moya, managing director of Vitalis, looks back at the latest news from the French potato and condiment specialist network.
Vitalis, based in the Hauts-de-France region, has 9 packaging sites in France: in the north, in the Aube, Sarthe, and even the Bouches du Rhône department / © Vitexport
Vitalis expands its network with a new partner in Brittany
After acquiring minority stakes in HDC Lamotte in the Drôme and Pomly (PomLiberty) in Picardie in 2023, Vitalis continues to expand its regional network, this time in Brittany, by becoming a majority shareholder in the family business Ets Le Roux. Founded in 1977 and run by the second generation of brothers Xavier and Philippe Le Roux, the company packages and sells no fewer than 150 products, including potatoes and vegetables from Brittany. With several packaging sites already under its belt in the north and south of the region, Vitalis is pursuing a strategy it started a few years ago. The goal is "to develop a geographical network with families that are heavily involved in the potato and onion market." It is this family aspect that Vitalis wishes to capitalize on. "Our idea is to fully preserve the company's identity. It is a family-run business with strong local roots, and we want to preserve this corporate philosophy. That is our strategy today, to rely on capital-intensive partners, just as we did two years ago with HDC Lamotte and Pomly. We want to support this external growth through complementary entities in terms of product profile, regions, and sourcing zones with production areas different from our own."
While Vitalis continues to grow in the potato sector, the group is not ruling out opening up to new product prospects in the near future. "We are thinking about it but it is still early to talk about it," explains Francisco Moya.
The Vitalis team in Berlin / © Vitalis
Vitalis family businesses merge
Another new development at Vitalis is the grouping of the various structures into a single entity. "On January 1st, 2025, we finalized the merger of the Billaut, Loridan, Negonor, Terrea, and Sud Horizon family businesses. We started this process in 2017 while keeping the names of the structures." The entities are now grouped together under Vitalis for packaging and support services, and under Vitexport for raw materials for international packers and wholesalers and the supply of raw materials to manufacturers (fries, chips, and flakes). "It was the next logical step. The continuation of a merger process that began a long time ago." In practice, the group's activities remain unchanged, but this restructuring will enable "clarification and, above all, increased visibility for the group."
For more information:
Francisco Moya
Réseau Vitalis
Phone: +33 3 87 92 42 33
f.moya@vitalisgroupe.fr
https://vitalis-reseau.com/