“It’s a collaborative effort, often formalised in specifications”

In this exclusive interview, Bertrand Dindault, Chief Business Development Officer and CSR Director of Mademoiselle Dessert, discusses his dual role in business development and sustainability. He highlights the company’s innovative approach and commitment to responsible practices

You are Chief Business Development Officer and CSR Director at Mademoiselle Dessert. Can you tell us a little about your role and the company?
My role is twofold and somewhat symbolic in scope, working towards development without forgetting sustainability. The business development, this part of my job covers all the business development that we can build up adjacent to our core business, and more specifically the collaborations we are building with top chefs to enable their know-how to be distributed to the general public, in TGVs and aeroplanes for example. Relating to the collaborations, we are building with certain major brands that are not native to the patisserie market, but which may exist there as ingredients (Lotus Biscoff, Carambar, Mapple Joe, etc.).

A ‘Dark Bakery’ incubator that enables us to :

– help young brands in the sector to develop with key accounts in the retail or catering sectors (1/2/3 Pavlova; Insifon; La Madeleine de Proust, etc.)

– develop brands from scratch in market segments for which demand has not yet emerged/expressed itself: OhOui ! low glycaemic index pastries; vegan pastries with The Vegan Society Dodo Cookie label, etc.

The CSR Department: Mademoiselle Desserts has been integrating CSR into its operations for over 15 years. Our commitment to making a positive contribution to the world in which we live can be seen in our B Corp certification and our Mission Statement status.

How have you integrated social responsibility into your strategy, and what are the main CSR initiatives you have put in place?
The first initiative was to look for a benchmark that would indisputably qualify the reality of our commitment. In 2018, we identified B Corp as the most comprehensive and most difficult benchmark for assessing all of our Group’s activities. The second was to change the company’s articles of association to make it a company with a mission, to measure the reality of our commitments and to report on the reality of the execution of our mission. As far as our actions are concerned, safety at work is our hobbyhorse, we measure our teams perception of the quality of life at work, we are formalising an action plan to decarbonise our business following the completion of our carbon footprint as part of the BPI’s decarbonisation accelerator, and we are assessing our relations with our various stakeholders.

Can you share some examples of recent innovations by Mademoiselle Dessert that contribute to more sustainable and environmentally-friendly pastry production?Certain animal raw materials such as butter, cream, milk and eggs are both markers of the quality of French patisserie but also major contributors in terms of carbon impact. In 2023, after 4 years working together, we took over Dodo Cookie, a small brand of vegan pastries certified by The Vegan Society, to make it the standard-bearer for a new range of plant-based pastries. Our aim is to win consumers over with our tasty treats and encourage them to include pastries with an unsuspected plant-based character in their diet.

How do you work with your partners and suppliers to promote sustainable practices and guarantee the quality of your products?
It’s a collaborative effort, often formalised in specifications. This work is complex because it requires us to go back upstream in the chain and, in the case of agricultural raw materials, to look at the farming practices themselves. Our purchasing team works with our suppliers, who are key to this exercise. Lifecycle analysis and carbon impact measurement are indicators that are now essential in our dealings. We encourage the development of agricultural supply chains wherever possible, for example in our purchases of flour and milk….

What measures have you taken at Mademoiselle Dessert to minimise waste and optimise the use of resources throughout the value chain?
We supply raw materials and packaging as and when they are needed, in line with production schedules, we manage the use-by dates of ingredients as closely as possible so as not to throw them away, we weigh products very regularly, and we measure material loss rates against our standards to avoid any drift. On average, 74% of our waste is sorted and recycled, most organic waste is treated using methanisation, and some landfilled CIW generates biogas.

In your opinion, why is it important to have this kind of discussion within the industry?
We all share the same concerns, and the increasingly new challenges we face mean that everyone has to find and develop their own practices and solutions. A round table is an opportunity to share these practices and solutions.

For more news, click here

Join us at SIAL Paris as exhibitor Join us at SIAL Paris as visitor