How did you hear about us and what were your main concerns?
When Catherine and Jean-Marc contacted us, they had an Alma mill that wasn’t always working properly and had broken down. The millstones also need to be refurbished, and they can’t get any information about their mill’s after-sales service. What’s more, having developed a good reputation locally, their customers are waiting for their flour to be delivered. They therefore have an almost immediate need for a mill.
At that point, Alma offered to buy them a new mill in place of their broken one, but did not offer after-sales service for the mill in question. They didn’t think this was a suitable solution, as they wanted to repair the mill without investing a further €12,000 in a new mill, especially if the new one were to break down again.
Mrs Lefèvre immediately looked for solutions on the internet and found Astréïa to be a mill manufacturer.
Having already experienced a number of technical problems with the Moulin Alma, Mr and Mrs Lefèvre wondered about the possibility of changing mill type in order to have a reliable production tool.
When the planets align…. At that very moment, we had a customer who wanted to switch from a 50cm mill to a 100cm mill to meet his requirements. So we suggested swapping mills so that our two customers could quickly get the mill best suited to their immediate needs.
We take back the 50cm mill, run it through our design office and workshop. We refurbish it and within 1 month, the two customers can have their mill.
A first for Astréïa! This had never happened to us before. We’ll never say never again!
Already equipped with an Alma mill, they were perplexed by the Astrié quality.
‘I was surprised by the responsiveness of the sales team and by the solution they came up with when I needed this mill so quickly. I usually believe only what I see and I was very perplexed by the quality and reputation of Astrié flour’.
I ordered this mill for my immediate needs, but I’m still sceptical about the ironing and the quality of the flour, because with my Alma mill I could see that I wasn’t really getting what I wanted.
I spend a lot of time watching the videos on the website and I can’t wait to come and collect my mill from Astréïa to see for myself.
When I arrived at the workshop, I was surprised by the quality of the flour, and especially by the fact that there was no ironing. Of course, Olivia had told me this from the start, but as I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I had my doubts, especially as I already had a mill and therefore experience.
I can actually see the process when I remove my Astréïa Mill and, in fact, no grain needs to be passed through the mill again.
In the end, I’m quite happy that my Alma mill broke down, because it gave me the opportunity to meet this Astréïa mill and to be much more satisfied with it, because it meets my high standards. A blessing in disguise!
What do you enjoy most about your Astréïa Mill?
What I like today is that the mill is completely autonomous. I load 50 kilos of wheat into the mill and I know that I’ll have 40 kilos of flour, without having to intervene at any point. I can now carry out my other tasks without having to worry about the mill.
The humidity in our geographical location is higher than in Astréïa’s workshop, so I changed the mill settings slightly at the start to avoid the mill getting clogged, and since then I no longer need to look after the mill during the day or at the weekend.
This autonomy is really important to me because I can let it work without stress.
Sales network development: how far have you got?
I sell to a number of partners, at markets, to individuals and also to a bakery that makes a special recipe of a baguette named after our farm, ‘La Baguette La Buissionnière’.
‘This baker needed to adapt his recipe with this new flour from the Astréïa mill, because the quality and bread-making process is not the same. He needed to rework his way of making bread to be able to launch this baguette, which is now proudly sold in the local bakery.’
Why did you choose Astréïa?
‘What made me choose Astréïa was the almost immediate solution they offered me, which was an opportunity to enable me to continue serving my customers with flour.
I sold my Moulin Alma on Leboncoin very quickly because there is a real demand for mills in France today, especially stone mills, and with short lead times. So I made it clear what problems I’d encountered and also my experience with Astréïa, to avoid having disappointed buyers as I had been myself.
Following this sale, I know that several of the contacts I had on Leboncoin have already placed orders with Astréïa for a superior quality flour and a mill that turns on its own, without stress’.
Did you hesitate to go through Astréïa and why?
‘I didn’t hesitate, I saw that both Olivia and Yannis at the workshop knew their subject perfectly, they were able to answer our questions throughout the process and I needed a mill quickly. And when I saw the flour, it was different from anything I’d seen before!
Do you have any new projects with Astréïa?
Yes, I have some ideas for going even further with the mill, particularly for working with certain bakers or changing flours. I’ve sent my suggestions to the team!
What has this changed in the life of your company?
In practice, until then I had to stay close to the Alma mill I had to keep it from jamming, to do the maintenance and ironing. When I got my Astréia mill, I didn’t have to deal with that stress any more. My mill is autonomous and I can do other things in the meantime. I start it up in the morning, I know that the settings are not going to change, I keep the quality of the flour constant and in my head I don’t have to wonder how I’m going to get the quality of flour. I’m very happy with it.
The flour is much better and I work a lot less on the mill.
What do your customers say about flour?
My customers have noticed the difference and my baker has had to adapt the way he makes the bread – that’s how you can tell the quality is different!
What do you sell today and how do you sell it?
- Buckwheat flour
- Soft wheat flour
- Twisted pasta
- Penne pasta
- Penne pasta
- ….
Here are the places where we sell:
- La Ferme de Maelys in Unverre (28)
- Direct sale at the farm by appointment, and resellers:
- La Grange aux Pains bakery in Arrou (28)
- Proxi in Brou (28)
- Proxi in Authon-du-Perche (28)
- Rapid’Market in Dangeau (28)
- Rapid’Market in Illiers-Combray (28)
- Le Panier du Perche (online grocery shop) in Beaumont-les-Autels (28)
- Grocery shop in Chapelle-Royale (28)
- Cocci’Market in Droué (41)
- Anthony MOULIN cheese dairy in Châtillon-en-Dunois (28)
- Châteaudun Tourist Office shop (28)
- La Boîte à Présent in Cloyes-sur-le-Loir (28)
- La Ferme de la Jolitière shop in Unverre (28)
You can find the Buissionnière Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/LePtitBuissonnier
