Organized in the Carrefour Grand Large parking lot, facing the ocean in Saint-Pierre, the Réun’île festival brought together, October 12, 7,000 visitors ! This is the first time that a brand has initiated an event of this magnitude around the ambition of promoting its talents and local production.. The testimony of Amaury de Lavigne, general manager of Carrefour Réunion.
Exhibitors and the public alike responded to the call from GBH and Carrefour Réunion to celebrate local production and the group’s 40th anniversary in Réunion.
Why did you set up this operation? : Réun’île ?
We are celebrating 40 years of GBH and its subsidiaries in Reunion. We wanted to share our commitment to the development of the island with all Reunion Islanders.. Create a festival of good humor and conviviality while showing the vibrant forces of Reunion with whom we work every day, what's more, in an exceptional setting facing the Indian Ocean, seemed obvious to us. This festival concretely shows our commitments.
You talk about commitments. Can you specify ?
Carrefour Réunion relies on several essential pillars. Employment : we have more than 1,600 employees fully engaged in their business. Training : Carrefour is very active in training young people. We have signed several partnerships with high schools and business schools. We train many apprentices and develop work-study programs in our different professions. The development of local production : our commitment is total. More than 30% of our products in store are from local production, and a very large part of our shelves are dedicated to it. Solidarity : we distribute more than a million and a half meals each year to the most vulnerable among us.
What did you expect from this day ?
This day was a moment of discovery, of pride and connection, dedicated to our customers, to our suppliers, local producers and importers, and to our collaborators, without whom nothing is possible. We wanted everyone to leave with the feeling of having rediscovered the riches of, with the desire to further support the local, to be even more connected to our island.
The vitality and pride of Reunion
The first edition of Réun’île met with considerable popular success in a festive atmosphere, family and 100% pei. “It’s a real success and, given the attendance, we see how this event found a place from this first edition. Réun’île demonstrates the vitality and pride of Réunion, and confirms the central place that local production has occupied in our commitment for forty years”, reacted Michel Lapeyre, Managing Director of GBH Africa and Indian Ocean.
