On the first day of the industrial visits, we visited classic French pastry and biscuit companies that have been operating in France for decades. Brioche Pasquier specialized in brioche (of course) and toasts. We saw all the work that went into a toast. It begins with mixing, cutting, rolling, proofing, and baking - all the classic steps in making bread. Then, it was toasted. It was amazing to see everything produced on a large scale with safety and quality measures in place.

For the second visit, we visited St. Michel which has been specializing in providing biscuits to French households for more than a hundred years. We witness the miraculous conversion of cut and moulded cookie dough into warm baked biscuits on a massive conveyor belt. The taste of freshly baked biscuits with its chocolate filling is something I will continue to crave for. It was inspiring that a well-loved company is continuing to innovate internally with inclusion of automation and robots in production and externally with regular launches of new products.

Lastly, we visited Sodebo, a company that started with a married couple operating a butchery. Now, they deliver their quality sandwiches, pizza, wraps, salads and pasta boxes all over France. We watched and learned how the pasta and sauce are made from scratch for quality and cooled rapidly for safety. At the end of the visit, we were rewarded with lunch. For many of us, our initial idea of instant and ready-to-heat food was something unhealthy and low quality. We were surprised how the pasta tasted and felt so fresh after heating in a microwave and they even have a Nutriscore of A! They surely won over some new customers that day.

Overall, the industrial visits showed us many concepts that will surely be useful for our specialization in Food Design and Engineering. More than that, we surely will not forget the time we spent with each other enjoying the seafront and delicious seafood!