Take a bite out of life with the “Chips Bellevue”
03/28/2023
After a first experience in a large group, Manon LOINGEVILLE, 2021 graduate of the master in apprenticeship in digital marketing & e-commerce at IESEG, decided to get involved in the family business in order to help it grow. Since January 2023, the “Chips Bellevue” are available in stores in the North of France and online. We met with Manon to talk about her experience as an entrepreneur.
©Chips Bellevue
Why did you decide to get into the potato chip industry?
My parents and my uncle are all farmers in Sercus, in the Hauts-de-France. They own a farm where they grow wheat, corn, beets, flax, green beans, and of course… potatoes! About 4 years ago, my parents started to think about a way to expand their business by processing and adding value to potatoes. After doing some market research, they chose to focus on a flagship product, appreciated by everyone as an snack: potato chips. After completing my master’s degree in digital marketing and e-commerce while doing a work-study program at La Redoute, I was looking for a professional project on a human scale that would be meaningful to me. So, I proposed to my family to join the adventure on the farm to help them develop this product and market it.
Is your packaging eco-responsible?
I did a lot of research on this matter to find out if it was possible to have recyclable or compostable packaging for chips. Unfortunately, potato chips are a product that is sensitive to heat, humidity and light, and there is no proper eco-responsible packaging (yet). However, we opted for a thin enough material to have the lowest impact on the environment. On the other hand, our packaging supplier is interested in this issue and is making a lot of progress on this. We hope to be able to move to a 100% eco-responsible packaging soon. We have also worked on the lowest possible ink coverage in order to limit the use of resources.
©Chips Bellevue
How did your studies at IÉSEG help you with this project?
At school, I learned a lot of very useful things, including website design, a course that obviously helped me a lot since I created the whole website (www.chipsbellevue.fr) myself. I also relied a lot on my communication and marketing strategy courses. In fact, my main challenge today is to succeed in making people know about our product and our approach, and to make sure that we offer a product that appeals to as many people as possible. I must therefore succeed in developing our community on social networks, especially with active ambassadors who will recommend our Bellevue Chips to their networks. All of this, without forgetting to find a good balance between professional and personal life, so as not to be overwhelmed.
What is your goal in the future?
I don’t know exactly because, honestly, I was not predestined to come and work on the farm with my parents, I was surprised myself! I must admit that it was not so easy to go from a large international group like La Redoute to a small family farm. But I adapted well and today, I appreciate the fact that I work in the countryside, that I have a lot of autonomy and that projects move forward quickly. It’s also very stimulating because there are many opportunities for development, to let your creativity run wild and to fulfill many different missions. I’m not about to get bored! In any case, I would like to stay here for at least a few years to have the opportunity to develop a whole range of products and chips with different flavors.
Learn more about the “Chips Bellevue” (https://chipsbellevue.fr/)