We all know Mini Babybel, a small, round, red cheese that you put in your schoolbag or picnic basket. This Sunday, September 18, the Mayenne factory in Évron, which manufactures five million a day, you read correctly per day, celebrates its 60th anniversary. For the occasion, its 600 employees gathered at the Gué-de-Selle pond.
21,000 tonnes of Mini Babybel in 2021
What is the secret of a factory that has stood for 60 years? “Lots of know-how“, answers Yann Lamblin, director of the site for seven years.And the passion of its employees“, he adds. For more than half a century, the évronnaise factory has been relying on technological innovations, assures the director of the site. When it opened in 196, it manufactured several types of cheese before devoting itself solely at the Mini Babybel since its creation in 1976. Result: the Mayenne factory is Babybel’s first production site in the worldwith five million small red cheeses produced every day and nearly 21,000 tonnes leaving the factory in 2021.
The most Mayenne for Yann Lamblin is “I’inking with our farmers. We are in a territory very laugh in milk and in competence“. The advantage of such longevity is also innovation, with the launch last year of a vegan Mini Babybel, mainly intended for the Anglo-Saxon market.