Laiterie Chalifoux in Sorel-Tracy, where they manufacture some 250 different dairy and vegan products under the Maison Riviera brand, has been in business for 103 years, but six months ago began a new development cycle with the appointment of Émilie Laurin as new general director of the group. “We are the biggest of the little players or the smallest of the big,” likes to say the food processing specialist who was recruited to continue the dairy group’s tradition of innovation.
The family dairy which was run for 100 years by four generations of Chalifoux was acquired in 2021 by the French cooperative Alsace Lait, which had already been a shareholder in the company since 2015, when Maison Riviera decided to launch into the manufacture of yogurts.
Alain Chalifoux, CEO of Laiterie Chalifoux, then sold 40% of the company’s shares to be able to equip the dairy with the equipment necessary to manufacture dairy and vegan yogurts.
“Innovation has always been the strength of Maison Riviera, which until then produced milk, butter and cheeses. In 2015, they launched their ultra-fresh yogurts in small glass jars. They developed niche, differentiated products, like crème fraîche,” observes Émilie Laurin, who joined the dairy processing group on March 7 as general manager of Maison Riviera.
The dairy cooperative Alsace Lait has joined forces with Bpifrance, a French public investment bank, to buy all of the shares of Maison Riviera in 2021, and has recruited Émilie Laurin to implement a development vision that capitalizes on innovation.
“We offer more than 250 different products with volumes varying from 2,300 to 25,000 kg per year. Large processors cannot do that, we are more agile, it’s in our DNA,” explains the general director.
It is because of her knowledge of the dairy sector and the management of large teams that Émilie Laurin was chosen by Alsace Lait to take over the management of Maison Riviera.
Holder of a doctorate in food processing sciences, Émilie Laurin specializes in ways to limit losses during the transport of perishable foods, from the farm to distribution.
She worked for a Washington start-up developing algae byproducts to produce omega-3 before joining Ocean Nutrition in Halifax, then ended up at Ultima Foods, where she played a important role in the launch of the yogurt brand, before becoming vice-president of innovation and product development at Agropur.
She was vice-president of innovation at Nature’s Touch, the largest producer of private label frozen fruits in North America, when Alsace Lait sought her out.
Maison Riviera processes 40 million liters of milk annually at its Sorel-Tracy plant, half of which is intended for the contract manufacturing of Bel (Babybel) cheeses, while the other half is 50% transformed into different Maison cheeses. Riviera (cheddar, parmesan, cheese curds, etc.) and 50% Riviera yogurts.
“We produce dairy yogurts, but we also produce vegan yogurts which represent 50% of the total volume of our yogurt division. We are the largest producer of vegan yogurts in Canada,” explains Émilie Laurin.
Over the last six months, the new general director toured the group’s activities and took the time to formulate the action plan for the next five years which will aim to optimize operations, the level of service to customers, automation of production and strengthening of existing teams.
“We have just invested 3 million in a new cheese slicer, an automation which will allow us to free up employees to carry out value-added tasks.
“We will invest next year and in 2025, with partners like Investissement Québec, an additional 12 million in the automation and digitalization of our production lines, to deal with the labor shortage. We must capitalize on innovation,” recalls Émilie Laurin.
In terms of distribution, Maison Riviera particularly wants to harmonize its practices; Currently, it must deliver its products directly to each Metro store, while it delivers to Sobey’s warehouses and deals with distributors to reach its customers in the Maritimes and deliver its vegan yogurts to the west of the country. .
In this era of crazy inflation in the food sector, it is difficult not to ask the general director of Maison Riviera if the processing industry is not partly responsible for the rise in the price of the grocery basket .
“I would have a lot to say on the subject, but you should know that we are also victims of rising costs. Whether it is labor, banner costs, milk prices which are set according to quotas, transport costs and surcharges on fuel prices, we too are subject to the increases. .
“Our prices have increased by 5 to 7% over the last year and we are already working to prepare our evaluations for the increases that we will present to our customers next February, it’s a lot of work,” agrees the general director of Maison Riviera.
