21 April 2008 – French media report that Tartefrais, a manufacturer of high quality pastries sold in supermarkets throughout Europe, is building a new factory in Falaise, Calvados.
Tartefrais recently obtained a patent for a new production method which will allow the company to manufacture long conservation chocolate and coffee éclairs. Tartefrais will be the only company in France capable of producing the pastries, which will keep for over 10 days.
There has already been some interest from retailers, but production won’t start until work on Tartefrais’ new 2,500 metre square factory is complete. The new facility will allow the company to manufacture 8,500 éclairs per hour thanks to two production lines fitted with state of the art equipment.
The company is about to launch a recruitment drive for some 70 jobs at the new plant. Production is expected to start in the autumn.
Tartefrais aims to capture 10% of the French market for éclairs and forecasts a 30-million-euro turnover in 2009, 50% higher than the figure it achieved in 2007.