It was the essential accessory for this scorching summer of 2022. Some call them “pebbles” or “penguin snacks”: the ice cubes, this frosted gold. At home, easy, a little water in the freezer, and you’re done. But restaurants, bars, or even individuals for certain events need tens of kilos daily. Report in one of the rare companies of Côte-d’Or – even Burgundy – which manufactures ice cubes: the Glacière dijonnaise, a branch of the Brasserie des Trois Fontaines, based in Bretenière to the south of Dijon.
“We come as reinforcements”
Production is carried out by two machines, one for crushed ice, the other for ice cubes. The company uses “drinking water, network”explains manager Virgile Berthiot: “We remove pesticides, nitrates, so that it is good quality water”. A so-called “food” quality, without additives, viable for cooling drinks or cocktails. This ice cream made in Bretenière is also used in buckets to cool bottles, or in catering stalls to place verrines. Once produced by the machine, the ice cream is manually packed into bags and then stored – for a maximum of one year – in a cold room, where the temperature is maintained between -2 and -4 degrees.
This summer, demand was high, mainly due to technical problems among professionals. “Often, in bars, ice machines are placed in spaces where there is not much air but a high temperature. security, which can no longer heat up, with parts that break, explains manager Virgile Berthiot. We come to reinforce them, 30, 40 or even 50 kilos to spend two days or on a big event”. The company delivers its ice cream to Côte-d’Or, but also to Saône-et-Loire, Doubs and Yonne. Up to three hours by road from Dijon, the autonomy of their refrigerated trucks.
The ice cube is highly sought after, especially since it is expensive to produce it in large quantities. “There are also professionals who had equipment but for whom it was too expensive and who stopped. I am thinking of a large company in Besançon, which we supply every week with 200 to 400 kilos of crushed ice, which is redispatched for small convenience stores”. In addition to ten-kilo bags, Virgile Berthiot’s company also offers three-kilo bags for individuals (count six euros).
Thirty tonnes of ice per year, soon to be fifty?
“This year we are going to reach around thirty tonnes. We are not at our maximum capacity since the machines are not running 24 hours a day. We can go up to 50 tonnes of production”. 50 tons…for now. The company plans to expand further this winter, with the purchase of a new machine (to make 500 kilos of crushed ice per day) and the installation of two new cold rooms, in order to reach a production capacity of 100 tons per year.
The Brasserie des Trois Fontaines has existed since the early 2000s for the beer part. The production of ice cubes was launched in 2019, based on an observation. “For a family event I looked for ice cubes, and I realized that it was very difficult to find them, relates Virgile Berthiot I looked into the question, and I saw that in Burgundy there were very few suppliers of ice cubes”. The activity is launched, even if the Covid-19 pandemic thwarts the plans. “For two years, it was a bit complicated, the whole event part, catering, was really at a standstill. This year, we can already see the demand growing”says the manager.