1923
Lesaffre refocuses on the activity of yeast.
Lesaffre
Past and future
Their story
1853: The history of the Group was built around friendship, Louis Lesaffre and Louis Bonduelle, when they joined forces to build a grain alcohol and Dutch gin factory. They later acquired their first mill in Marcq-en-Barœul.
In 1863, they were inspired by the work of Louis Pasteur, being the first to recognize fermentation as a vital force. The two friends considered marketing yeast in addition to alcohol. This is how the adventure around yeast began. From this site grew Société Industrielle Lesaffre, which gradually proved to be the driving force behind the Goup's industrial and commercial boom.
1963
Lesaffre expands to Italy.
1974
Opening of the first Baking Center™
2015
Accelerated development of the Nutrition & Health business.
1981
Expansion in Mexico
2023
Lesaffre celebrates its 170th anniversary.
Company values
We value people as individuals and give our employees the opportunity to express themselves and to build their own career path.
Our teams are organized on a human scale, allowing individuals to flourish.
We are a decentralized organization with multiple autonomous subsidiaries and Business Units, operating like SMEs, where everyone can develop their own specific talents.
We build our strategy from the bottom up, listening to the needs of the markets, our employees, our customers, and the planet.
Commitments and CSR
Our CSR commitments revolve around 3 pillars and are directly linked to our mission "Working together to better nourrish and protect the planet":
- Caring for people by offering them the best possible working conditions and career prospects in a healthy and inclusive environment.
- Producing sustainably and maintaining responsible relations by offering sustainable products throughout our value chain and by ensuring a rigorous ethical approach in our relations with all our stakeholders.
- Taking care of our environment by producing with the aim of improving our CO2, H2O and biodiversity impact across our entire value chain, and by providing solutions for more sustainable agriculture.
ECHO - Lesaffre's Charity Program
Thanks to our global presence and strong local roots, we have the necessary proximity to pursue our mission and our commitment to charity: to contribute to the economic and social development of local communities while respecting their needs and their environment. More than 200 projects since 2019!
“Providing healthy food for 9 billion people by 2050, is a major and unprecedented challenge. At Lesaffre, we believe that fermentation is one of the most promising answers to this challenge.”
Brice-Audren Riché, Directeur Général Lesaffre
In figures
83% of the water consumed
as part of our industrial processes is returned clean to nature in 2022