On Thursday, September 21, 2023, Lallemand celebrated a significant milestone: 100 years of yeast production in its production plant on rue Préfontaine, Montreal. Colleagues from all around the world, clients, partners, and local politicians joined company executives for the celebration of this important landmark.
“A 100 years! This is a great opportunity to pay tribute to our supportive business partners, valued customers and our talented employees who have all played a part in our success story,” stated Antoine Chagnon, President and CEO of Lallemand. “I raise my glass to those who built this factory, originally dedicated to baker’s yeast for the local market, and the visionaries who made it a launching platform for the global company that Lallemand has become today” he concluded. Mr. Chagnon took the helm of the company in 2015, succeeding his father Jean, and grand-father Roland before him.
Notwithstanding its respectable age of 100 years, Lallemand’s Préfontaine plant has a bright and rich future ahead, due to the potential of microbes to help addressing some of the most pressing issues of our times.
“We are all facing new challenges: climate change and feeding the entire planet are on the menu for the coming decades, and innovative microorganisms can play a key role in facing them. Among others, they can help us reduce carbon emissions, lower the use of antibiotics and chemical preservatives, increase the amount of plant proteins in our diet, and promote the use of microbial fertilizers or biological crop protection products that reduce the use of fossil products,” said Antoine Chagnon. “We are also working on the next generation of probiotics to promote further health benefits,” he added.
Lallemand has now a diverse and global presence in 50 countries over 5 continents, employs more than 5000 employees and operates 48 production facilities, including 24 yeast and 10 bacteria plants. The company develops, produces, and markets yeast, bacteria, fungi, and derivatives of these microorganisms for applications in baking, wine, beer, distilled spirits, fuel ethanol, animal and human nutrition, pharmaceutical industry, and other food and agricultural industries.
Lallemand is present in the daily life of hundreds of millions of people around the world, including:
- 600 probiotic formulas, distributed in over 60 countries
- In 1 out of 3 bottles of scotch whisky
- In 22+ billion bottles of wine
- In 30+ billion loaves of bread
- In tomatoes grown without chemicals, feeding 10+ million people in Europe
