Episens by InVivo launches GOURMANCE, a premium brand of French-style bakery products

Episens has reaffirmed its ambitions for growth in the bakery, viennoiserie and pastry market with the creation of GOURMANCE, a premium product and service brand aimed at bakery and food service professionals in France and abroad.

Away-from-home consumption is growing and offers excellent growth and innovation prospects for market players, with 39% and 94% increases in the value of sales in France and the UK, respectively, over 2023*. This dynamism is broadly driven by the appeal of bakery snacks, which have gained in popularity due to their diversity and practicality.

GOURMANCE : premium quality to showcase French delicacies

The new GOURMANCE brand is the result of over 100 years of baking expertise and tradition, coupled with long-term commitment, high-quality ingredients and fantastic recipes inspired by brand partner and chef Guy Martin.

GOURMANCE exemplifies gourmet French products with a wide range of bread, viennoiserie and pastry products and culinary aids produced at its 10 sites in France.

Specific products for each category:

• Pre-proven, raw puff-pastry viennoiseries: traditional or gourmet, in standard or mini size.
• Soft viennoiseries: traditional or filled doughnuts, in mini, standard or long sizes, and super-soft brioches in individual sizes or to share.
• Culinary aids to let your creativity speak for itself: round or rectangular raw puff-pastry sheets.
• Ready-to-use seasonal products to celebrate your events, such as king cakes.
• Pre-baked bread using traditional recipes, using sourdough, or rich in grains and inclusions: traditional baguettes, half-baguettes, rolls, breads from around the world and even breads to share.
   

Products renowned for their excellence and high quality

One of the brand's core commitments is the meticulous and responsible selection of the ingredients used in its products, which enables it to guarantee quality:

• Responsible French wheat flour from sustainable Semons du Sens supply chains
• High-quality butter, carefully selected to guarantee delicate, consistent and super-crisp lamination.
• Free-run eggs

The stringent requirements for the recipes designed by our R&D engineers guarantee that our products are natural, that their look, smell, taste and feel is as expected, and that they have the correct nutrition profile:

• Manufacturing processes that respect traditional methods with long fermentations of over 24 hours to develop, for example, the unique aromas of our range of pavé breads.
• Yeasts developed using Episens fermentation expertise that is ever-present at our sites year after year; these add authentic and subtle notes to our products, such as the new Signature range comprising baguettes, hearth-baked half-baguettes and a pair of original viennoiseries with a subtle and unique flavour.
• Ingredients carefully selected and subtly incorporated into our fillings and toppings for moments of fabulously gourmet snacking pleasure.

Convenient products perfectly suited for moments of indulgence

Firmly focused on understanding and deciphering expectations for away-from-home consumption, GOURMANCE products are convenient and perfect for moments of indulgence during the day.
Chef Guy Martin, with his deep understanding of the intricacies of mobile and traditional food service and support from our expert baking technicians, advises our customers on how to curate product ranges that are perfect for each and every food moment, from breakfast, lunch and gourmet snack breaks through to the evening meal.

The first bakery product brand fully committed to the agricultural and food transition

• GOURMANCE is reaffirming its position as a committed brand in line with the CSR strategy of the Episens division, helping to develop a range of positive-impact products with the following goal: a positive impact from all of our innovations by 2030.
  
  The brand's primary commitment is to help with the challenges of the agricultural and food transition by supporting the transformation of agricultural practices through particular production specifications (responsible wheat business line, Label Rouge business line). These specifications, which are part of the Semons du Sens initiative, are audited by an independent third-party organisation, contribute to biodiversity conservation and remunerate the 3300 participating French farmers.

  
  To take it further still and make the transition an ongoing commitment at the very heart of its strategy, our Bakery, Viennoiserie and Pastry business has this year made a commitment to low-carbon farming by entering into contractual arrangements for 20,000 tonnes of wheat for the 2024 harvest: a new specification that aims to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of wheat farming by taking action on the nitrogen fertilisation of wheat (which is responsible for 80% of the carbon footprint of wheat).
  This pioneering commitment, supported by the new GOURMANCE brand, will enable actors in the food service industry to choose bakery, viennoiserie and pastry products with a reduced carbon footprint.
   

All GOURMANCE products made in France are developed using responsible wheat flour from sustainable Semons du Sens supply chains, guaranteeing:

• Source: 100% French wheat, guaranteed traceability from field to production facility.
• Environment: good agricultural practices that promote biodiversity and protect the climate.
  Responsible supply chain with level-two environmental certification, compliant with the EGAlim law.
• Natural products: wheat without any post-harvest treatment
• Distribution of value: supplementary premium paid to farmers for good agricultural and conservation practices.
• Quality: wheat varieties selected for their organoleptic and bread-making qualities.
  Certified Label Rouge flour for our pavé and bâtard breads.

A partnership with the chef Guy Martin to drive excellence and creativity

Guy Martin, a chef boasting renown in France and internationally and expertise in the food service sector, is working with R&D and marketing to support projects to create and develop new frozen products — from coming up with creative ideas to selecting quality ingredients and creating the recipes.

 

He is also helping to advance the brand's products by developing creative and inspiring recipes for our partner customers seeking new culinary experiences and stand-out products.
For the brand launch, Guy Martin developed five recipes based on five products that embody the GOURMANCE brand:

• A spicy chicken sandwich with dried figs and apricots
• A croissant topped with goat's cheese chantilly, chives, and crunchy grapes
• A tartine with smoked salmon and crunchy cucumber
• A croissant filled with lemon and sweet mango cream
• A croissant filled with salted caramel and pecans.

But that's not all — Guy Martin is also passing on his expertise, technical skills and savoir-faire to our GOURMANCE baking technicians.
Working for our customers every day, our technicians provide good practices for preparing our products to guarantee impeccable quality and offer advice on how to curate customised product ranges that are perfect for each and every food moment, from breakfast, lunch and gourmet snack breaks through to the evening meal.

Useful shortcuts:

• See the website Episens