Our History
FAVRICHON
117 years of history, 117 years of natural, dietary and organic food
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Generations of history
1890: Joseph Favrichon is working as a pharmacist in Saint Symphorien de Lay when a German abbot called Monsignor Kneipp develops a treatment based on the principle of hydrotherapy (ice cold baths), a simple healthy diet based on eating whole-grain cereals and the use of plants to cure ailments. Kneipp’s technique was a forerunner to the modern concepts of alternative medicine and thalassotherapy.
1891: Louise, Joseph Favrichon’s only daughter, becomes ill from a type of pneumonia which traditional French medicine at the time is unable to treat. Her father turns to Kneipp’s remedy and, within a few weeks, Louise is cured.
1893: Joseph Favrichon purchases an old bakery to manufacture granary meal flour to Kneipp’s recipes.
1895: The "general counter of French goods produced according to Kneipp’s method” is founded.
1912: One of Louise Favrichon and Charles Vignon’s sons refuses to drink his baby bottles made from traditional flours. His grandfather works on a new flour recipe for babies, and "Phosphogene" is born. It is based on roasted wheat flour, green pea meal and calcium powder to strengthen children's bones.
1914 - 1918: The factory does its best despite the cereal shortage, using acorn or fig flour to make “coffee” instead of the more expensive chicory or real coffee.
1919 - 1923: In response to the post-war baby boom, Joseph Favrichon expands his range of baby flours: Phosphogene for "normal" babies and other varieties for infants suffering from constipation or diarrhea. Favrichon is the only brand to offer a broad range of products, something that would become the company’s unique selling point.
1921: The oat flake makes its appearance on the Favrichon price list, but unlike today, it is not cooked prior to flaking.
1925 - 1926: Favrichon launches a major sales drive involving the use of enameled plates and posters to proclaim the nutritional benefits of the company’s products, and automated displays in stores achieving the highest sales.
1933: Joseph Vignon, grandson of the founder, modernizes the product packaging, focusing on the dietary benefits and providing consumers with more nutritional information.
1938: Joseph Vignon invents a new way of processing oat grains to make it easier to digest: the oats are steam cooked before being flaked between two cylinders, producing the now familiar oat flake of today. Our oats are still made this way today.
1941: The government agrees to give the factory "priority status" to Favrichon during WWII so that it can continue producing food for children, thus retaining its staff and even developing the "café national" – roasted barley malt sold either pure or with added fig and acorn flour. This was to be the first generation of the "Nectad’or", "Soluble Malt" and "Matimalt" beverage products.
Quality is already very much part of Favrichon’s corporate values and the company seeks to achieve total control of the manufacturing chain by installing an oat grain cleaning and dehusking facility, allowing Favrichon to purchase cereal grains directly from farmers. At the same time, the company also modernizes its flaking line.
1950 - 1951: As the market for dietary products grows, the company decides to abandon its marketing of pharmaceutical products.
