“I always dreamed of working in the world of chocolate”: Maison Guinguet in the hands of a new director with national ambitions

The new CEO, Isabelle Chatagner, has no shortage of ambitions for her company. One of these is to leverage local expertise to export Maison Guinguet chocolates throughout France, whose production plant is located in Duras.

This position was, in a way, her destiny. Isabelle Chatagner, the new general manager of Maison Guinguet , took up her duties in June. Founded in the 1950s by the Guinguet family, the company first built its expertise on plums, before gradually specializing in chocolate, which now accounts for more than 80% of its production.

Each year, 280 tons of chocolate leave the 4,000 m² factory located in Duras, for a turnover of just over 10 million euros. Sold exclusively in specialized networks such as delicatessens or online, Maison Guinguet products aim to stand out through their local roots and the work of packaging and textures, across a range of more than 200 products.

"We produce chocolate with praline, local hazelnuts, popping sugar, crunch, peanuts, popcorn, Basque pepper, and fleur de sel," says the new director. "For example, we've just launched an innovation with red garlic from Gers."

Isabelle Chatagner has just settled into a company with particularly strong family DNA. "We have people who have been here for thirty years. And they carry this legacy from the past that is at the heart of the company," says the former sales, marketing and communications director at Nutrivet, in Agen .

She can't say the same. "I'm from Toulouse, originally from Burgundy, and to be honest, I didn't know the brand. Yet, I've always dreamed of working in chocolate," says the woman who surrounded herself with the investment fund Cap Autrement to run the company. And who has solid experience in business.

We need to expand, recruit, implement a sales policy, a real strategy and expand.

Having held various positions as sector manager, sales manager, marketing director, commercial director and general manager, always in the food industry, she has opened the doors to both small local businesses and multinationals, such as Unilever.

In Duras, Isabelle Chatagner takes over from Franck Latrille, who arrived in 2017. “He completely changed the scope of the company. We went from a workshop to a factory.” Now, it’s her turn to think big: “We need to expand, recruit, implement a sales policy, a real strategy, and expand. These are my challenges.”

While Maison Guinguet is riding high on its local reputation, the new director has ambitions to export the brand throughout France. "The idea is to use our local reputation to spread it regionally and then nationally," explains the woman who employs around 80 people during the peak season. And Maison Guinguet is already preparing for peak season. "Two-thirds of our turnover is generated at Christmas. And we're already there; preparations have begun, and we're encouraging our customers to place orders as early as possible."