Established for more than fifteen years in La Salvetat-Saint-Gilles, in the west of Toulouse, a bakery can no longer cope with the additional cost of raw materials and especially with a staggering rise in electricity prices. It should close within ten days.
The Les Délices des Pains bakery, run for more than 15 years by Christelle Guichet and her husband, in La Salvetat-Saint-Gilles, will not be able to cope with the increase in its electricity bill. “More than 450% increase than for electricity! deplores the couple of bakers. From €1,000 per month we go to €4,500 without mentioning the cost of raw materials, with a drop in customers since the Covid which amplifies the situation but there, it’s the coup de grace!”. On the window, they have affixed some posters with a bitter taste: “death notice”, “killing of small businesses”…
“We will close, not without the ball in the stomach”
The Guichet family will also have to lay off its employee. “We wanted to sell the business, but no buyer came forward in such conditions because they cannot obtain loans, regret these traders. Our son will not be able to pass his CAP (certificate of professional skills) as a baker. The CFA (Apprentice Training Center) does not keep him because we had him as an apprentice. For the other bakers or other catering trades, it’s the same situation, they face the same difficulties. We finish our stocks and on December 11 we will close, not without a knot in our stomachs. We cannot benefit from energy aid because we do not fit into one of the criteria, we consume more than 36 kW through our electricity contract. Already, we are only doing more than only one batch per day and if everything is sold we do not produce more given the energy needs of our ovens”.
Despite her anger, Christelle Guichet has already found a job to “feed the family”. But she is worried about her husband who has always been a craftsman and, at 50, finding work is not easy. Customers from the neighborhood will have to go further, by car, to buy their bread.