For eleven years, the new pets, or NAC, swear by its crickets, locusts, mealworms or, for the bigger ones, its chicks and other frozen rodents ...
At the head of his insect farm, installed since 2010 in Le Gallet (Oise), Antoine Garrault today takes the lion's share of the NAC food market.
Over a million boxes of insects, 3 million locusts, 50 tonnes of mealworms, 20 tonnes of frozen chicks and rodents and 150,000 jars of catnip leave his farm each year.
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From the Oise, they supply France with locusts, crickets and mealworms
Today, the entrepreneur must seek new outlets.
“In terms of market share, we took everything that was possible in France,” he confirms.
I was alone at the start, today I have six employees.
We managed to raise the turnover to 1.5 million euros (M €).
The manager even had to rename his company "GNG distribution" instead of "France Insectes".
Conquering international markets with a new weapon: frozen insects
Former financial auditor, Antoine Garrault has successfully taken a 180 degree turn.
“I didn't quite land in the unknown because my father produced insects for fishing,” he explains.
But I chose to diversify the offer and to be both a distributor of insects and a producer of mealworms, 50% of the production of which is intended for fishing.
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More than a million boxes of insects or even 3 million locusts leave his insect farm./LP/Juliette Duclos
With the exception, therefore, of worms produced in the Oise, all insects are imported from Germany, Italy or the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) before passing through Le Gallet, to be re-shipped. to major garden centers or pet stores in France.
Antoine Garrault does not want to be satisfied with these good results, however, and now aims to conquer international markets with a new weapon: frozen insects.
"I could at least double my turnover, or even cross the € 4 million mark"
“At the national level, I cannot go higher,” he laments.
If I do nothing, I am doomed to stagnate.
Very little for him.
So, to take this additional step forward, Antoine Garrault is targeting above all the American, Asian and Middle Eastern markets, “where the demand for food for ornamental bird farms is very high.
"And the entrepreneur is already counting on rapid results:" I could at least double my turnover, or even cross the € 4 million mark, "he hopes.
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How Picardy became the El Dorado for insect breeding
To achieve this, he will have to invest between 300,000 and 500,000 € in a new industrial building.
“I have to create a processing laboratory that meets the latest standards to freeze the insects,” he says.
If I fulfill this obligation, the Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations (DDPP) and the Regional Directorate for Food, Agriculture and Forestry (Draaf) should then give me their approval to produce animal feed. .
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Antoine Garrault intends to launch his production of frozen insects in 2022. “Until the future industrial building is finished, I will rent a room,” he announces.
There should also be between 3 and 4 hires to ensure this new activity.
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