Cristel is growing. This brand symbol of the very top of the range for cooking enthusiasts has been manufacturing utensils on its same historic site in Fesches-le-Châtel (Doubs) since 1826. After nearly two centuries of presence, it has seen its turnover increase by 25% in 2020 then 30% in 2021.
No mystery about the reason for the explosion in sales, “the health situation of the past two years has forced people to stay at home and therefore to cook, notes Emmanuel Brugger, the general manager of Cristel. Some of the products in our range have seen their sales increase tenfold! Especially sauté pans, casseroles, frying pans, everything that responds to a real culinary preparation at home. »
As a result, the production, which plays the “made in France” thoroughly, was on the verge of breaking up on certain models, yet sold at high prices for this brand present in three-star restaurants and the kitchens of the Élysée. Steel stocks, which melted at the height of the crisis, have since been able to be replenished.
Export demand has particularly exploded with the United States, Japan and the Netherlands leading the buying countries. A 2,000 square meter building had to be built, somewhat hastily, for the expeditions. “This extension project existed but the situation forced us to build much faster than planned. »
This company with a turnover of 20.7 million euros which employs 105 employees, including twenty hired since the crisis, should recruit ten more in the months to come. A difficult exercise, as it is complicated today to find employees in the industrial region around Belfort or Sochaux (Doubs), where business demand is currently high.