Because we like to cultivate our difference
100 years after its creation, our Grande Maison is resolutely oriented towards ever healthier and more responsible products, towards ever more genuine and attentive relationships. And that's because the men and women of Grands Moulins de Paris have made choices.
- The choice to adopt a simple and genuine posture, from the cultivation of the grain to the taste of the bread, from the selection of ingredients to the tasting.
- The choice to be committed to the good, to the pleasure of creating quality products based on a tradition and know-how that we pass on throughout the world.
- The choice to remain as passionate as ever about our milling trade, and the desire to share it, day after day, with pride.
- The choice to look to the future, positively and responsibly, to promote sustainable farming, production and transport techniques, to source our wheat as close as possible to our mills.
The origins of a century-old house
1914-1918 - World War1
As the war drags on, the people go hungry and revolt rumbles on. In 1917, Ernest Vilgrain, the3rd generation of a line of Lorraine millers, was called to join Georges Clémenceau's government as Under-Secretary of State for Supply. His primary mission was to put food back on the table. His success in this area earned him the nickname of "key holder of the national larder".
1919 - Creation of Grands Moulins de Paris
Armed with this expertise, Ernest Vilgrain and his brother Marcel founded Grands Moulins de Paris in April 1919. An extraordinary story begins. Joined by a handful of men, all with milling expertise, they decided to build the world's largest industrial mill to meet the population's long-term supply needs.
In the summer of 1919, the foundation stone was laid for this emblematic building on the Quai de la Gare in Paris, ushering in the era of industrial milling. The ambition was high: 6,000 quintals of wheat were to be milled every 24 hours. An ambition quickly achieved and even surpassed.
In 1923, over 7,900 quintals of wheat were milled per day, twenty times the output of the 20,000 other mills in France. Output reached 9,500 quintals per day by 1925.
1929 - Creation of the first bakery school in France
Back from the war, there weren't enough bakers and know-how was being lost. Grands Moulins de Paris therefore decided to create the Ecole de Boulangerie et de Pâtisserie de Paris (EBP Paris) to make up for the lack of manpower, and to safeguard and pass on bakery know-how.
100 years of milling expertise and innovation
Click on the dates to discover the story behind them.
In 1965, 8 major regional flour mills joined forces to create a flour brand with national national reach. Thus Francine, born from the contraction of "France" and "Farine", was born. The brand began by marketing products that have become indispensable: Farine de Blé (1965) and Farine Fluide (1968).
To be able to offer different products to consumers and meet the growing competition, Grands Moulins de Paris launched the first milling mix for artisan bakers in 1968: country bread.
By this time, there weren't enough puff pastry masters in the baking world. Bakers lacked the time to make their own puff pastry, while demand was growing. In partnership with Délifrance, Grands Moulins de Paris is introducing a selection of the best frozen bakery products. The launch of frozen bakery products in 1979 was a real revival for bakers, at a time when their trade was diversifying.
Over the years, we have innovated and diversified with a wide range of viennoiseries, pastries and delicatessen products to support craftsmen in their daily work, while capitalizing on a strong brand created in 2002: Les Recettes de mon Moulin.
Today, our offer enables us to meet consumers' needs while developing our customers' business. For each product we develop, we make sure that the ingredients are well chosen and that artisanal know-how is respected.
The "Ronde des Pains" bakery chain brand"is created by Grands Moulins de Paris in 1986. It will be commercially exploited until 2015.
Grands Moulins de Paris launches the first baguette under theCampaillette brand in 1989: theCampailletteDes Champs. Today, the brand offers a range of 9 flours.
Grands Moulins de Paris is the leading player in business transactions with dedicated teams. Our Financial Transaction Advisors (FTAs) support artisan bakers in their search for business assets and project financing.
VIVESCIA was officially born in 2012 with the merger of two major cooperatives in the Eastern region: Champagne Céréales and Nouricia. The strong links already forged between these cooperatives and Grands Moulins de Paris are strengthened by the complete integration of our company into VIVESCIA, the French cereal cooperative group specializing in the cultivation and food processing of cereals. We are proud to belong to the 10,000 farmers of Eastern France.
Grands Moulins de Paris has created a new bakery network concept under the Campaillette brand to support the development of artisan bakers. This replaces the Ronde des Pains concept, capitalizing on the success of the Campaillette brand for its baguette flours. Artisanal bakers who join this network remain independent, while benefiting from tools and services for their store.
2019: an anniversary year for GMP as it celebrates its 100th birthday!
In a world where 80% of the jobs of 2030 don't yet exist, celebrating 100 in 2019 is both a way for a company to showcase its outstanding performance and to affirm its confidence in the future.
To build a specific centenary celebration, we drew on the wealth of French popular expressions around grain, mills and bread.
Discover the retrospective in pictures
To mark its centenary, Grands Moulins de Paris has launched a number of striking innovations based on key food trends:
- The quest for a new experience with Campaillette Epoca baguette with ancient grains and seeds
- A commitment to naturalness with Francine's new organic multigrain bread flour and a new organic yeast, and Campaillette's organic Grand Siècle.
- Tailor-made solutions: GMP is the first miller to offer bakers its online product catalog, so they can order in just a few clicks and simplify their day-to-day work 24/7!
2021-2022 - product innovations continue
-Blockchain on Francine Bio T55 flour: Fork-to-fork traceability, highlighting expertise in partnership with Connecting Food.
- The creation of Berrouga, rich in legumes, twice awarded at the Pépites de la Boulangerie 2021 and SIRHA Europain Awards 2022: an innovative milling mix rich in plant proteins, based on 100% French wheat flour and legumes.
- Towards ever more responsible flours with Cœur d'Epi, a flour made from wheat grown using soil conservation agriculture.
Grands Moulins de Paris reinforces its commitment to greater responsibility by jointly developing a 100% VIVESCIA Group subsidiary in the field ofsoil conservation agriculture. This practice combines quality production in quantity, respect for the soil and its biodiversity, and greater recognition of farmers for their practices.Coeur d'Epi" flour is produced at the Brienne-le-Château mill and sold exclusively to artisan bakers in the East, Île-de-France and Rhône-Alpes regions.
2023 - Ever more digital forerunners
Following the launching its e-commerce site in 2019, Grands Moulins de Paris is proud to offer the first Marketplace dedicated to bakers on www.grandsmoulinsdeparis.com.
This online sales platform specifically brings together essential bakery products and equipment to continue saving time for all bakers in France. A real lever for simplifying daily life and developing their business.
On www.grandsmoulinsdeparis.com, artisan bakers can find the entire Grands Moulins de Paris product catalog, plus products from merchants selected specifically for them. All the categories needed for daily bakery operations are offered: flours, ingredients, equipment and tools, hot and cold drinks, packaging, resale products, etc.
