Sylvain & CO has a mission: to do everything it can to ensure that people eat fresh, high-quality and healthy fruit, vegetables and salads regularly and with pleasure. To achieve this, the Swiss company, which has its headquarters in Essert-sous-Champvent in the canton of Vaud, makes it particularly easy to consume these important sources of vitamins. Whether ready-to-use salads, cleaned and chopped vegetables or ready-made fruit cups with yogurt and other ingredients - the Sylvain & CO range makes conscious eating very easy.
Sylvain & CO puts good things on your plate
28.01.2019
Whether it's providing customers with the best salads, vegetables and fruit or motivating employees, Sylvain & CO focuses on people. With this approach, the company, which has been part of Eisberg since April 2018, fits perfectly into the Bell Food Group.
The grandfather of the current managing director specialized in vegetable growing in the 1940s. The desire for further development was already the decisive driving force for him, and so the first cold store was built to be able to store the products for longer, and carrots and potatoes packed in nets were sold for the first time.
Almost 60 years later, Sylvain Agassis took over the reins. He also proved to be an innovative market gardener, giving the family business new impetus. Among the modernizations that the then 26-year-old initiated was the construction of a new plant next to the existing one in Essert-sous-Champvent, which allowed for more industrial production processes.
Sustainable action has also been a high priority for Sylvain Agassis from the very beginning. "I am convinced that a responsible attitude is perfectly compatible with entrepreneurial success," he explains. "Our aim is to reconcile the current needs and eating habits of our customers with respect for nature and people." The company pursues this goal, for example, by concluding sustainability contracts with its suppliers. Ten years ago, it also converted its own fields to organic farming, for which it was certified with the demanding Demeter organic label, among others.
Organic young leaf lettuce is one of the particular highlights of the range. Only the stems and young leaves are harvested first. The rest of the plant is left to sprout a second time. By specializing in this method, the company has opened up a real niche market. The "BIO baskets" are also very successful - a subscription service for corporate customers who want to do something good for their employees with the best organically grown fruit.
An important pillar of the company is its 180-strong, highly motivated team. Despite the high level of mechanization, a lot of careful manual work is still involved. "Our company would not exist without the people who make up the '& Co', in other words our employees," says Sylvain Agassis. They are loyal and reliable to their employer, which is confirmed by long periods of service and low staff turnover rates.
In Sylvain & CO, the Bell Food Group has gained a new member for its ranks who shares the group's values. "Sylvain & CO and Eisberg are a very good fit. The company brings a lot of experience, innovative strength and new ways of thinking to our international business," explains Christian Guggisberg, then CEO at Eisberg, and Sylvain Agassis adds: "Being part of Eisberg and thus of the internationally positioned Bell Food Group secures our future and enables us to drive forward our strategy of offering high-quality products while continuing to grow."
