About Degrenne...

Degrenne is a French manufacturer of cutlery and dinnerware. The company was founded in Normandy in 1948 by Mr Guy Degrenne and became a leading cutlery brand in France. The Degrenne group employees more than 650 peoples working in three factories (one in Normandy for cutlery and holloware, one in Limoges producing the by far our first international market followed by the other European main markets but with a fast-growing presence also in Middle East and in some Asian markets such as South Korea and Japan.

La Rochère: We export 60 per cent of our total sales in more than 50 countries. Europe (especially Germany and UK), USA, China, Japan, Korea, Canada, Australia are our major territories.

Sabre: Sabre does 90 per cent of its sales abroad, USA, Korea and China are the top three countries, but we also have some unexpected countries like Myanmar or Dominican Republic. Also, it is interesting to notice that two of our top three countries use chopsticks!

What challenges is the global tableware industry facing and do you see a time when things will ease?

Degrenne: The global tableware industry is facing different challenges: the first and the most important is probably to reconsider our product offering to better match the expectations of the new younger consumers. Actually, these new generations demand the global tableware industry has a deeper understanding of their values, and of what really matters to them such as versatility, durability and corporate social responsibility but also to adapt to the new way of consuming (nomad, local eating, world food).

The second important challenge is related – as for all other industries - to the strong inflation that is heavily affecting both production costs and consumer prices, and the consequent reduction of the purchase power. Of course, this challenge is less important for those companies and brands that have a clear premium/ luxury position.

La Rochère: Energy costs are definitely a challenge for many tableware industries such as glassware, stoneware, porcelain etc. We need to increase our prices to survive. But will consumers follow? Improving world-famous “Haute Porcelaine de Limoges” and one in Alfold/Hungary specialising in mass-coloured stoneware) and in more than 50 shops and sales corners in France. In September 2021 Degrenne was named as “preferred tableware brand” by French consumers according to an independent research of Institut Statista for CAPITAL magazine. our production process to make it more eco-friendly is another challenge. the French manufacturing industry has lost its working appeal. However, the Covid crisis contributed to a general reflection of our life models and offered many an opportunity for change, that’s way I am confident in our ability – as manufacturing industries with a real know-how – to meet this challenge by offering jobs that make sense.

Sabre: We have a very lucky industry; the creative process is very slow and our customers are extremely conservative. Thus, we can focus on the digitalisation and CSR, those will definitely be our two main challenges for the next years.

And what about France, what challenges lie within the local tabletop sector?

La Rochère: Tableware culture is inherited from our French art

Degrenne: Today, the demand for French products remains strong but to be able to produce and distribute them we need to invest and to hire talented and skilled people. Unfortunately, for decades of living. However, the younger generation’s way of living has tended to keep them away from traditional tableware culture. Our challenge is to attract them to tableware, and to adapt our offering to their new art of living.