Who we are

In 1935, the creamery grew and Mr. Botreau started a second production facility in the buildings of a former collection centre owned by the Alencon coop and located in Chapelle-Moche.

Between 1935 and 1937, many difficulties were encountered and since the creamery was not profitable it was closed. As the primary shareholder, Mr. Réaux intervened to save the company.

In the meantime, Mr. Botreau transferred its shares to Mr. GILLOT who became the new general manager but the start of the Second World War quickly impacted the new managing team.

The years of war didn't make it easy for managing the company; Mr. Gillot and Mr. Boédoec both served in the war away from the business. Upon their return in 1940, they had to deal with the unavoidable difficulties of the German occupation.

A growing business

The armistice allowed them to implement many changes. First of all, between 1950 and 1960 they increased the milk collection. For technical reasons, Mr. Gillot built a pig house.

In 1956, he expanded the creamery. The following year he built a casein drying area. In the sixties, the trend was to consolidate along industrial synergies. Therefore, the production of butter was given to another company in the region.

Despite a very aggressive competition from the coop of Argentan in the Orne area, the St-Hilaire creamery maintained its production and increased its level of supplied goods.  The creamery also had to take on a large number of renovations in order to stay competitive. Therefore, the delivery area was enlarged and new refrigerated spaces were built. Because Mr. Gillot united with other industrials involved with milk products in the Bocage area, he was able to build a joint factory for the processing of skim milk into powder. This factory was well-known under the name of "BOLAIDOR".

In the seventies, several additions were made to the facility including a workshop for pasteurized butter, a manufacturing area for pasteurized Camembert cheeses fitted with appropriate cheese ripening rooms and a new refrigerated room. In 1979, a workshop to process casein was built. It processed up to 100,000 litres of milk per day.

The aim of the GILLOT family is to use traditional process to make the best Camembert cheese of Normandy: This goal was once again achieved in 2005 when the creamery received the Gold Medal at the National Agriculture Fair.

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