It's time to talk about one of our most loyal partners: La Clayette. Founded in 2020 by Nicolas Drique, the company has since established itself as the queen of short supply chains in Île-de-France. Today, 7 food locker kiosks bring fruit, vegetables and even eggs straight from the producer to residents of the Paris region. How does this middleman-free sales system work, and how has MonCasierFrais put its expertise to work for La Clayette? That's what we'll reveal in this article.
What is La Clayette: the company founded by Nicolas Drique?
With a name directly inspired by the famous slatted wooden crate (“clayette” in French), La Clayette is a company specialising in short supply chains. Its founder, Nicolas Drique, is originally from the Baie de Somme, where as a child he had direct contact with local produce and the producers themselves. From championing local products to improving the quality of food available in urban areas, let's see what's behind this distinctive name.
Putting short supply chains front and centre in Île-de-France
How do you sell fresh, local produce in Île-de-France, France's most densely urbanised region? That's the challenge Nicolas Drique took on in 2020 when he founded La Clayette. The goal wasn't to use existing distribution networks, but to remove the middlemen between producer and consumer entirely. To bring this short supply chain to life across the Paris region, the best tool was the self-service automated locker. In 4 years, 7 kiosks have opened across several towns in Île-de-France, including Puteaux, Paris and Meudon.
Fresh, local products in urban areas
Since 2020, La Clayette has been working with producers based within a 150km radius of its food locker kiosks. These are carefully selected from across Île-de-France and neighbouring departments. The aim is to bring fresh, seasonal, quality produce into urban areas, particularly Paris and its surroundings. Herbs, mushrooms, fruit, vegetables and even beef boxes: find all the fresh products sold in La Clayette's automated lockers.
In the news: on 17 October 2024, La Clayette won the Prix Initiative Remarquable from the Réseau Initiative Île-de-France. This award recognises a business that innovates, promotes economic and social dynamism or is committed to the ecological transition.
Former newspaper kiosks turned into food lockers
La Clayette's connected lockers weren't installed at random across Île-de-France. They've taken the place of former newspaper kiosks that had been permanently closed for a few years. As a result, they're found in strategic spots, on busy streets or near train stations. What's more, they make use of the kiosks' existing structures, cutting installation costs and giving these self-service points of sale a distinctive look. The kiosk on Place Denfert-Rochereau, right by the station forecourt, is in fact the newest of La Clayette's 7 kiosks in Île-de-France, but also the very first to open within central Paris.
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How does MonCasierFrais bring its expertise to La Clayette?
Selling fresh produce through a short supply chain using automated food lockers calls for reliable, intuitive technology, designed around real-world needs. That's why Nicolas Drique and MonCasierFrais worked together to create an innovative solution for any automated locker operator.
A fruitful collaboration in building MonCasierFrais
Nicolas played a central role in the development and continuous improvement of MonCasierFrais. His strong hands-on experience as a food locker operator helped us design efficient refrigeration technology that operators can control remotely themselves. His day-to-day feedback was invaluable in developing technology designed by, and for, automated locker operators.
Innovative technology serving local products
What makes the technology MonCasierFrais offers La Clayette innovative? For several reasons, in fact:
- Our automated lockers' application programming interface (API) is efficient and smooth.
- Our food lockers' remotely controllable refrigeration system is reliable, precise and suited to the specific needs of chilled locker operators. With it, fresh products stay fresh right up to their best-before date.
- It's intuitive, meaning it can be mastered with the greatest ease, even without any prior technical knowledge.
The key strength: the MonCasierFrais Locker Management Application
Nicolas's on-the-ground feedback was crucial in designing the MonCasierFrais Locker Management Application. This tool lets any connected automated locker operator manage, track and plan sales remotely. Here are some of its innovative features:
- The sales dashboard, with statistical tracking.
- Live viewing of what's inside the automated lockers.
- Planning ahead for restocking your smart lockers.
- The brand-new collaborative ideas and tracking tool, which lets operators suggest improvements and vote for the ones they like.
- Live monitoring of the food lockers' temperature.
Check out our article on MonCasierFrais's innovation to better understand what we can bring to automated locker operators.
In conclusion
By turning former newspaper kiosks into food lockers, La Clayette is bringing local shopping back to life, while championing the work of local producers. Thanks to MonCasierFrais's expertise, these connected lockers bring residents of the Paris region closer to farm produce, while making management simpler for operators. This partnership offers a modern, innovative solution centred on the freshness of the products sold in the food lockers. For those, like La Clayette and MonCasierFrais, committed to responsible consumption, the future of short supply chains has never looked more promising.
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