Seabiscuit: 12 years of local, natural and socially responsible biscuits

Like my grandfather, I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Today, with Seabiscuit, this trait now helps me to realise my passion for good taste. I’m interested in production; this has developed gradually in partnership with Yolande Coop, to which I’ve provided a shaper to help the teams and optimise production. Social responsibility must also be a key value in enterprise.

I spent many long days looking for the right product to launch. Hours of market analysis, and testing recipes and processes. To keep my strength up, I baked myself some biscuits. My wife came up with the idea: “Why don’t you make biscuits?” ... and that’s how Seabiscuit was born. The concept appealed to me all the more because most of the needed ingredients could be sourced locally l, such as the flour, butter and fresh eggs.

I didn’t experience any particular difficulties with the administrative procedures. Today, I think this is even made easier by structures such as the House of Entrepreneurship and MyGuichet. Make sure you’re well informed before taking the plunge.

I used to live in Wiltz, which is home to “Cooperations”, a sheltered workshop that runs a cultural centre with a cinema, restaurant, and various events (including “lantern night”). When I proposed my project to them, they immediately embraced the idea, and we did a small production run.

As the business grew, it was no longer possible for them to continue production. At that point I was lucky enough to meet Yolande Coop through the 1,2,3 GO Social programme (now Nuyko), of which I was a winner. Since the bakery shares the same values as protected workshops, we began working together.

In analysing the production process, I realised that the shaping stage was the only section that could be automated to improve production without threatening the employment of disabled people. Quite the opposite, in fact, it could even open up more opportunities for them. Thanks to a Spuerkeess/ etika loan, I invested in a forming machine which I made available to them.

The priority was to guarantee quality production. Once that was done, we could move on to developing our business.

We mainly sell our 120 g bags in eight different flavours. Mainly through chains: Pall center, Délices de mon moulin, Leclerc (formerly Match), Leclerc Concorde (formerly Cora) and Alima, as well as numerous local independent grocery stores. For the hospitality sector, we are distributed exclusively by La Provençale, with a more suitable bulk format of 1 kg in four flavours.

That’s a whole range of projects that are very important to us, but if there’s one that will be the focus of our attention, it’s the creation of an in-house production site where we will develop new products. This future workshop will be based in Wiltz (we’ve come full circle) and will require considerable funding (on our scale) and an equally significant personal investment. But that’s what entrepreneurship is all about!

I’m lucky enough to be able to count on a new colleague, Philippe, who has joined me in this adventure.

Our relationship with Spuerkeess has been a springboard for our production. The cookie-shaper was financed with Spuerkeess and thanks to etika, whose label we have acquired. Thanks to this impetus, we have been able to move into a new stage of production.

french version only

Seabiscuit - des biscuits solidaires et fabriqués localement - Etika