In Château-Thierry, once you have crossed the Marne, a smell of chocolate teases the nostrils of passers-by.
Located on the banks of the river, the Lu factory has been spreading its perfume in the town of Aisne since 1931. Owned by the Mondelez group since 2012, it produces the famous Pépito biscuits, a trademark of the historic factory.
But the sweet scent of cocoa will gradually disappear from the streets of the city center.
In a press release published on January 31, the Mondelez group announced the gradual closure of its Château-Thierry factory.
The agri-food giant highlights
“unprecedented cost inflation as well as growing competition from private label food products”
and the need to
“safeguard its competitiveness in France in an inflationary context”.
Anger and incomprehension
Sébastien Eugène, mayor of the town of 15,000 inhabitants, is still suffering the blow.
"I am very angry.
This is completely contrary to the company's discourse in recent years
,” storms the elected representative of the Radical Party.
In 2023, Amélie Vidal Slimi, president of Mondelez France, came to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Belin factory, which subsequently became LU before coming under the control of the American multinational.
“Château-Thierry, more than 90 years of existence and still as much competence”
, could we read on an internal presentation projected at the time of the trip.
“She then announced to us her desire to invest, to relaunch the site,”
Sébastien Eugène remembers with bitterness
.
Since 2019, we have been in this dynamic.
As we speak, there is still chocolate vat construction underway.”
For Château-Thierry, it is the disappearance of a symbol.
The city was built around the factory.
Built by Gustave Belin between the wars, the warehouses at 10 rue Henri-Petit welcomed more than 1,700 workers at the height of activity in the 1970s.
“Everyone knew someone who worked at Belin.
Today we find ourselves with wasteland right in the city center
,” fumes the mayor.
Production “twice as expensive” as in the rest of Europe
The prefect also stepped up to the plate.
“If no buyer comes forward, the prefect of Aisne will carefully study the possibility of subjecting the company to obligations to revitalize the territory, in order to make it contribute to the recreation of activities and the maintenance of jobs in the area. territory
,” warned the prefecture in a press release.
On the side of the employees, there is incomprehension.
“We don’t understand,”
tirelessly repeats David Romedenne, CFDT staff representative and trade unionist.
Today we are told that we are more profitable.”
This is the main argument put forward by Mondelez in its press release.
According to the group, production at Château-Thierry would cost on average “
twice as much as at other sites in the rest of Europe
”, with no prospect of improvement.
“
Have we been given the means to be profitable?
As an employee, I would say no,”
laments David Romedenne.
But he, like other union officials, wants to believe in a turnaround.
Dominique Bocquillon, head of the local union of the CGT, asks
“that an industrial redirection solution be seriously studied”
before any job protection plan.
60 employees still work in the Château-Thierry factory,
“but employees are also hired there on fixed-term or temporary contracts,”
adds Sébastien Eugène, bringing the number of people affected by this gradual closure to 80.
Furthermore, Mondelez announces the creation of 27 positions in its factory in La Haye-Fouassiere in Loire-Atlantique,
“offered primarily to employees of Château-Thierry”.
“Belin may well find a solution for manufacturing biscuits specific to Château-Thierry”
, continues Dominique Bocquillon before adding:
“And why not, call them “Les Castels””
, taking up the gentile of Château-Thierry.
Perhaps they could be made of chocolate, so that the smell of cocoa continues to flirt with the nostrils of passers-by.