1687020275 The Good Recipe for Vachon Cake Longevity Radio Canadaca

The Good Recipe for Vachon Cake Longevity – Radio-Canada.ca

The cake factory is part of the Beauce landscape, just like the Jos Louis, the 1/2 Moon Cakes or the Swiss Rolls.

Although Vachon had humble beginnings, as Jacques Vachon, the founder’s grandson, tells us, the family business has grown into a flagship of Quebec’s economy.

“I think that name is defining for the majority of Quebecers. Maybe not in the new generation of 10, 15 year olds […], but if we take people aged 30, 35 and older all the way up to 80, 85, Vachon is synonymous with pie. »

— A quote from Jacques Vachon, grandson of the founder.

A building with the inscription

The building that housed Vachon’s branch and factory in 1946. (file photo)

Photo: Courtesy of Vachon.

Jacques Vachon believes that this reputation has been built through consistent and hard work in both manufacturing and selling the products.

An employee at the Vachon factory.

An employee at the Vachon factory.

Photo: Courtesy of Vachon.

And it’s not the longtime employees who claim otherwise. Louise Poulin, an employee with 36 years of service, even adds that she has Vachon tattooed on her heart. His colleague Lison Boiler, an employee with 32 years of experience, even considers the company his second family.

Vachon cake: 100 years of sweet treats

ICI PREMIÈRE SHOW • History today

Maxime Coutié animates history today.

Vachon cake: 100 years of small treats. 23-minute audio content, ICI Premiere broadcast. listen to audio.

Duration 23 minutes 23:00

The key to success

The historian Catherine Ferland also believes that Vachon’s success was due to its proximity to the people. It wasn’t caviar, but cakes that people eat at lunch, she explains.

Catherine Ferland adds that members of the Vachon family were geniuses at selling their products, with vans painted in the colors of Jos Louis. According to the historian, it’s difficult to imagine them not running to get something at the supermarket.

A photo of the Jos Louis cake on a Vachon van.

Vachons Jos Louis.

Photo: Radio Canada

From yesterday till today

Today, with 500 employees, the company produces 350 million cakes a year, which are distributed throughout Canada and part of the United States. She makes 45 different products.

An employee places the icing on a tree trunk.

A Vachon employee applies glaze to a tree trunk in the 1980s (file photo)

Photo: Courtesy of Vachon.

The company was sold to Saputo in 1999. Since 2014 it has belonged to a subsidiary of the Mexican company Grupo Bimbo. But for the current owners, even 100 years later, the family aspect is still part of the essence of Vachon cakes.

Everyone knows someone who worked for the Vachon bakery. It’s often a family affair, says Marie-Eve Royer, the current owner of Vachon, who is also president of Bimbo Canada.

In collaboration with Bruno Savard and Pier-Olivier Nadeau