Groupe Bigard is a French meat processing company. It owns half of all

slaughterhouse In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...

s in France. It processes beef, mutton, and pork. Its best-known brandname is Charal.

Overview

The company was founded as ''Société commerciale des viandes'' by Jean-Paul Bigard in 1968.Company Overview of Groupe Bigard SA
''Bloomberg Business'' It became known as Groupe Bigard six years later, in 1974. The company's headquarters are in

Quimperlé Quimperlé (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department, region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern France. Geography Quimperlé is in the southeast of Finistère, 20 km t ...

, France. It owns half of all slaughterhouses in France.Marie-Josee Cougard
Les abattoirs, un secteur concentré et dominé par le groupe Bigard
''Les Echos'', July 24, 2015 It sells meat under the brandnames of Charal, D'Anvial, Tendre et Plus, and Shems. Its best-known brandname is Charal. As of 2015, Jean-Paul Bigard owns 90% of the company,Jean-Paul Bigard (Groupe Bigard)
, ''Capital'', June 23, 2014 with an estimated wealth of 350 million Euros. He serves as the President of the Syndicat National de l'Industrie des Viandes (SNIV) and the Syndicat National du Commerce du Porc (SNCP). In 2016, the company acquired Copvial SA for a symbolic one euro. The company had been placed in judicial liquidation on June 28, 2016.

Facilities

The company's headquarters and main processing facility are located in

, the group's historic factory. As of 2010, the company operated 55 sites across

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, including 23 slaughterhouses, accounting for nearly half of the country's private slaughterhouses. By 2023, the group had expanded to 60 industrial sites and 28 slaughterhouses in

2015 French pork production crisis

In August 2015, both Groupe Bigard and its competitor, Cooperl Arc Atlantique, refused to accept the price set at the Marché du Porc Breton in

Plérin Plérin (; ; Gallo: ''Plérein'') is a coastal commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France. The Marché du Porc Breton, located in Plérin, is where the price of pork is set for retailers across France. ...

, which is used as the norm across France, on the basis that it was too high in comparison with the price set by other European countries like Germany, where both companies also sell pork.Victoria Masson
Deux importants industriels de la viande boycottent le porc français
''Le Figaro'', August 11, 2015

Sponsorship

In January 2022, Bigard signed a partnership agreement with the

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner Banlieue, suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity Stadium#Types, domed stadium Pa ...

rugby club until 2025.

References

Food and drink companies established in 1968 Companies based in Brittany Meat companies of France French companies established in 1968 {{France-company-stub