Ici & Là
Founded in 2014 by Emmanuel Brehier and Benoit Plisson, Ici & Là (the company behind the Boucher Vert brand of pulse-based vegetarian products) is an ISARA alumnus and one of the incubator's biggest success stories to date.
It launched its products two years ago, and now predicts a turnover of €2.5 million in 2018.
Brehier said the experience at Isara was very important in laying the foundations for its current success.
‘They helped us create the first prototype in their mini factory and their marketing and business experts gave us advice. We make meat alternatives with pulses such as lentils, chickpeas and flageolet. Our objective isn’t to make meat analogs but to create new products with vegetables so that the consumer can actually see he or she is eating whole lentils,” said the CEO and co-founder.
The bulk of Le Boucher Vert’s business – 80% - comes from sales to school canteens across France as well as in Switzerland and Belgium, and restaurants. It sells consumer-facing packaged products in around 600 retail outlets in France, and is hoping to start exporting in 2018.
Ici & Là has earmarked the UK, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland as attractive export markets.
It will also be launching a new brand in April this year. “Le Boucher Vert [The Green Butcher] is too restrictive because it refers to meat,” said Brehier, adding that the new branding will refer more explicitly to the plant-based nature of the portfolio.