A family business
Jean-Paul and Jocelyne Tournois started working for the company, the former as Managing Director and the latter was responsible for quality, management control and promoting exports.
Together they bought Sacor. Business was booming: the brand Bastides Salaisons was launched, which is how we would go on to become known, cooked hams were discontinued in favor of selling sliced meats, and international sales exploded.
Their son, Nicolas Tournois, joined Sacor and took over two years later. The development of the cured-meat business continues to thrive, with currently around one hundred employees at the Aveyron manufacturing facility.
Find out more about our company by watching this video
Branching out into large-scale distribution
Bastides Salaisons produces 3,000 tonnes of sausage and dried sausage per year, available in around forty different formats, and produced using the purest artisanal traditions. We only source fresh meat from pigs reared in south-west France. Our ability to develop demand-driven products, our great agility and our desire for excellence and high standards are all part of our DNA. This top-of-the-range status means we can vary the way we market our products, which can be found under high-end retailer brands or under the Bastides Salaisons or Au Pays des Bastides brands. Our dry cured meats are also sold in restaurants, butcher-delicatessens and grocer’s shops.
Conquering the international market:
The leading European company
As it stands, 60% of what we produce is sold on the international market. Spurred on by the efforts of Jocelyne Tournois in the 1990s, Bastides Salaisons is famous the world over thanks to its French excellence. Our products are sold in around thirty countries. Having broken into the British, German, Benelux and Northern European markets, we are expanding into Eastern Europe, North America and Asia. We have specific certifications which open the doors to the Canadian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Singaporean and Taiwanese markets. In 2014, we were the first French company authorised to export sausages and dried sausages to the Chinese market. Why do we have the edge? We are a fast-moving company that is able to export quickly and adapt to each market, and we benefit from a dedicated team and a company strategy based on willingness.
What is our vision? A responsible future
We picture our future to be focused on creating openings. Openings for our products, with cured meats that combine tradition with innovation. Openings for our Research and Development team, which is exploring the ways in which we can meet the needs of a natural approach, whilst preserving flavour and maintaining food safety standards. Openings on an international scale, whereby our sausages and dried sausages can be sampled across the globe. We are working simultaneously to minimise the environmental impact of our production, by making our packaging more recyclable and modernising our facilities, to respect the well-being of animals and to maintain good working relationships with our breeders. We promise to continue offering products with great taste quality, championing French farming and protecting the jobs and savoir-faire of our employees in Villefranche-de-Rouergue.