Entreprise
A family business
Each story begins with a start point. Ours grew out with Gilles and Marie Jo Fonteneau, who bought a bakery in Chavagnes en Paillers in 1977. A love of baking that over the years has developed around brioche and gâche vendéenne. With their recognised expertise, Brioches Fonteneau quickly found success among supermarket shoppers. 40 years later, Christine and Mathieu, sister and brother, are carrying on the family and local tradition. 40,000,000 brioches are sold, staying true to our commitment : to perpetuate know-how and produce quality products that respect everyone.
of our production is exported
… with an international outlook
Thanks to the expertise of our 300 employees spread over 3 production sites in Vendée, we are proud to promoting Vendée gastronomy throughout France and even beyond. We export our tradition internationally, with 40% of our production crossing our borders!
deeply-rooted in our region and located within 20 km
comes from wheat grown in West of France
to meet the needs of all of our customers : the traditionnal stone oven, the rotary oven and band oven.
comes from Vendée wheat
of the gesture
From making our own sourdough to hand-braiding our brioches, each step of our process is testament to our traditional baking expertise. All these production steps take 8 hours. This slow fermentation, a guarantee of quality, ensures a soft texture and authentic taste.
ingredients
Promoting a local and responsible approach.
Working closely with our French suppliers, we have for many years a supply chain approach in food industry sectors for our ingredients: CRC flour, butter, free-range eggs and sugar.
We give priority to noble and raw ingredients to give our brioches an authentic taste.
We therefore prefer :
use more butter and not flavourings;
add milk to accentuate the milky flavour;
use rum and natural orange blossom water.
A traditionnal process respected
Since the creation of Brioches Fonteneau, all of our brioches and gâches have been made with sourdough, itself made from the previous sourdough. It is made using a long and controlled fermentation time to guarantee consistent quality. We adapt the type of sourdough, pasty or liquid, according to the recipe. Our sourdough contributes to the development of aromas that are specific to each of our products.
We adapt the kneading process to each of our recipes. In this way, the crumb of our brioches is airy and stringy, while the crumb of our gâches is fine and melt-in-the-mouth.
The resting period, is a fermentation stage that takes place in the tank, before the products are shaped. At Brioches Fonteneau, we respect long resting times, in line with traditional baking practices. This step is essential for the development of flavors during fermentation. It also improves the properties of the dough, ensuring good volume gain during baking
All our brioches are hand-braided. According to the number and shape of braids required, our employees adopt the appropriate type of shaping. This technical gesture is a real know-how and requires special attention to ensure the regularity of the products.
Browning helps colouring and adds shine to the crust. As an artisan baker would, our brioches and gâches vendéennes are browned with egg before baking.
A decisive step in the production process, baking is specific according to shape and weight. To guarantee optimal volume and a brown cooking, we prefer low-temperature cooking. All our products are visually inspected as soon as they come out of the oven.
Quality and traceability
Our quality team control and ensures compliance with production process. All our production sites are certified IFS version 7 and BRC version 9 superior level.What’s more, the HACCP process eliminates all risks of product contamination, whether physical, chemical, microbiological, GMO, allergenic or fraudulent.
French flours
Our values
Being commited takes on its full meaning at Brioches Fonteneau. We are committed to preserve an ancestral know-how typical of our area. We are committed to sublimate taste and quality so that our products bring the greatest pleasure to every consumer, while being as healthy as possible.
We are committed to promote local producers and using raw materials respectful of our planet.
We are committed to be there for the players in our region : sports, charity and caritative association… We are commited to grow up our teams. They are the ones who create everyday brioches and gâches that delight our customers.
Our family history has given us sense of kindness. Since 1977, we have been committed to cultivating this cherished value. All our decisions and those of our teams are guided and oriented by this value. Benevolence is present in our daily actions with all our partners, promoting dialogue, listening and respect. It’s what brings us all together within the company.
Since 1977, we have been accompanying your breakfasts, snacks… We shared difficult awakenings, joyful awakenings, family celebrations, gatherings… We shared your laughter and your moments of life. Since 1977, we supported our teams as much as they have supported us. Together, we perpetuate know-how and tradition.We share our love of the product, and together we innovate to make it ever healthier, tastier and more respectful of our land. For us, sharing symbolises a commitment to charities, sports associations… to be as close as possible to the local players. Sharing is what unites us, what brings us together, what we look like, all together.
