What LSDH does

LSDH (Laiterie de Saint-Denis-de-l'Hôtel) is a French, family-owned liquid food and ready-to-eat salad manufacturing group founded in 1909 and headquartered in Saint-Denis-de-l'Hôtel, France, operating under full Vasseneix family ownership since 2007. The company runs two main business divisions: a Liquid Pole producing milk, plant-based beverages, juices, carbonated drinks, syrups, and soda concentrates, and a Vegetable Pole (Les Crudettes and C'Zon) producing ready-to-eat salads. LSDH serves both as a contract manufacturer (private label and OEM) for over 200 clients ranging from startups to major global food companies, and as the owner of proprietary consumer brands including C'est qui le patron?! (fair-trade milk), Abeille (carbonated beverages and syrups), JFA (juices), Les Crudettes (salads), and Cidou (reduced-sugar juices).

The company's operations span 7 production sites and 50 packaging lines with annual capacity of 1.6 billion units, supporting formats from 20cl to 2L across carton bricks (TetraPak, gable-top, Elopak), PET bottles, and glass jars. Notable proprietary manufacturing innovations include the world-first dry disinfection line for PET milk bottles without aluminum caps (2008), Europe's first aseptic line for carbonated beverages with high juice content (2011), and a sugar-reduction filtration process achieving 30% sugar reduction. The workforce totals 2,000 employees, with nearly 100 new product references launched each year. Supply chain is vertically integrated through 400+ French dairy farms, 100+ French soybean farms, 500 vegetable producers, a wholly-owned organic orange and pineapple farm (Fazenda Mainau, 5,000 hectares in Bahia, Brazil), and an equity stake in Spanish juice producer ZVM.

Revenue is generated through three streams: contract manufacturing (one-time license/professional services model) for retailers and industrial clients across all distribution channels, proprietary brand sales through French retail distribution (over 8,000 points of sale for fair-trade milk), and exports to a limited set of European and Brazilian markets. With revenue exceeding €900 million (85% France-based), LSDH is in active capacity expansion mode through the €140 million L'Abeille 2 factory (operational from February 2024, 400 million packages/year capacity) and the €32 million L'Atelier Inové plant extraction facility (100 million liters annual capacity). Go-to-market is sales-led and B2B-direct, with major fair-trade and CSR narratives supporting consumer brand positioning.

Name

LSDH

Legal name

SAS LSDH - Laiterie de Saint-Denis-de-l'Hôtel

Website

https://lsdh.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

1909

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

LSDH is a French family-owned contract manufacturer and proprietary brand owner producing liquid foods (milk, juices, carbonated drinks, syrups) and ready-to-eat salads across 7 production sites and 50 packaging lines, serving 200+ B2B clients and retail distribution.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Contract Food Manufacturing / Liquid Food Packaging

NAICS

Beverage Manufacturing (3121), Dairy Product Manufacturing (3115), Food Manufacturing (311)

SIC

Beverages (2080), Dairy Products (2020), Food And Kindred Products (2000)

akta.pro primary industry

Non-Alcoholic Beverage Co-Packing (Soft Drinks, Juice, RTD) (AFAFAIAB)

Keywords

• Contract dairy manufacturing
• Private label beverages
• Ready-to-eat salads
• Aseptic liquid packaging
• Plant-based beverages

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint-denis

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices9 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Contract Manufacturing (Private Label & OEM): LSDH manufactures and packages liquid foods and ready-to-eat salads under retailer brands and for industrial clients. The company serves over 200 clients from startups to global food companies, providing full-service from product development to packaging.
2. Proprietary Brand Products: LSDH owns and markets brands including C'est qui le patron?! (fair milk), Abeille (carbonated drinks and syrups), and Les Crudettes (ready-to-eat salads) through retail distribution.
3. Industrial Subcontracting: Manufacturing services for startups and major global food companies, handling production across all distribution channels (retail, food service, export).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

LSDH manufactures and packages liquid foods (UHT milk, plant-based beverages, juices, carbonated drinks, syrups) and ready-to-eat salads through 7 production sites and 50 packaging lines, operating as a co-packer for retailers, food service operators, and industrial clients while also marketing its own consumer brands (L'Abeille, JFA, Les Crudettes, C'Zon, Cidou, Faire France, C'est qui le patron?!). The company produces over €900 million of volume and launches nearly 100 new product references per year.

Product overview

LSDH (Laiterie de Saint-Denis-de-l'Hôtel) is a family-owned French dairy and food processing group founded in 1909, operating as a co-packer for private label and brand products. The company operates two main poles: the Liquid Pole (Pôle Liquide) manufacturing milk, creams, plant-based beverages (soy, almond, rice), juices, smoothies, still beverages, carbonated and functional drinks, syrups, and soda concentrates; and the Vegetable Pole (Pôle Végétal) producing ready-to-eat salads under Les Crudettes and C'Zon brands. LSDH offers extensive packaging capabilities including carton boxes (TetraPak, gable-top, Elopak), PET bottles, and glass jars in sizes ranging from 20cl to 2L. The portfolio includes branded products like L'Abeille beverages, JFA juices, C'est qui le patron?! fair milk, and Faire France. Key packaging innovations include BottleClips, dry disinfection technology for PET opaque milk bottles, and reduced-sugar product development. The company operates 7 production sites with 50 packaging lines across France.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Faire France: Fair milk brand established by 500 dairy farmers in 2012, ensuring producers receive 45 centimes per liter
• C'est qui le patron?!
• L'Abeille
• JFA (Jus de Fruits d'Alsace)
• Les Crudettes
• C'Zon
• Cidou
• Truke
• Ermi
• Cubito
• Carronde
• Bottle Clips

Products and services

• L'Abeille Proprietary LSDH brand of carbonated soft drinks and syrups (part of the L'Abeille family), sold through French retail channels.
• JFA (Jus de Fruits d'Alsace) Proprietary LSDH brand of fruit juices produced in Alsace and sold through French retail.
• Cidou / Les Désucrés Proprietary LSDH range of reduced-sugar fruit juices targeted at health-conscious consumers.
• Les Crudettes Proprietary LSDH brand of ready-to-eat salads sold through French retail.
• C'Zon Proprietary LSDH brand of ready-to-eat salads, including single-serve and family formats, sold through French retail.
• C'est qui le patron?! (fair-trade milk) Fair-trade UHT milk brand, contract-manufactured by LSDH for the C'est qui le patron?! consumer brand.
• Faire France (fair-trade milk) Fair-trade French-origin UHT milk brand, contract-manufactured by LSDH for retailer and consumer Faire France lines.
• Contract Manufacturing / Co-packing services B2B contract manufacturing and co-packing of liquid foods (UHT milk, plant-based beverages, juices, carbonated drinks, syrups) and ready-to-eat salads for retailers, food service operators, and industrial food clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• Water consumption reduced from 1.2L to 0.8L per package at new Abeille 2 plant
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• PET Opaque Recycling ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 20178-member consortium (Carrefour, CITEO, PDG plastiques, Intermarché, La Laiterie de Saint-Père, Paprec group, SGT, and LSDH) working since 2017 on closed-loop recycling of opaque PET for food-grade bottle-to-bottle applications.
• C'est qui le patron?!coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Consumer-created brand where shoppers design products through questionnaires, choosing criteria and measuring price impact. Milk pays producers 540€/1000 liters (vs 200€ in crisis). Launched 2016 in response to Ain region dairy crisis.
• Faire FrancecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2012500 dairy farmers created Faire France in 2012 after milk price crisis. LSDH collects and packages fair-trade milk sold in over 8,000 stores, guaranteeing producers 0.45€/liter. European equivalents include Faire Bel, Faire Milch, and dFair Mëllech.
• Dessinons des souriresminorOthers · 1 January 2012Humanitarian association created by LSDH employees in 2012 to support causes for sick, underprivileged, isolated people through sporting and gourmet events.
• ZVM (Spanish Orange Company)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010LSDH took equity participation in Spanish company producing orange and clementine juice to secure quality and quantity of orange supply.
• Agri-EthiquecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLSDH partners with Agri-Ethique, a 'Made in France' fair trade initiative that guarantees 100% French organic milk, fair farmer remuneration, 3-year tripartite contracts, animal welfare practices, and concrete environmental actions including carbon impact reduction through hedgerow planting.
• Bio équitable en FrancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation promoting organic, social, virtuous farming for farmers, planet, and consumers. Members commit to at least 5 agroecological practices. Buyers pay 1% of revenue to producer groups for collective development.
• Bleu-Blanc-CœurcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation uniting food chain actors around quality objectives in animal, environmental, and human nutrition domains. LSDH uses their double-obligation approach: means obligation for minimum omega-3 and prohibited ingredients, and result obligation on final product lipid composition.
• Fazenda Mainau (Bahia, Brazil)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLSDH created its own organic farm on 5000-hectare estate in Bahia, Brazil, with 850 hectares of organic orange trees and 250 hectares of pineapple, exclusively for juice production. Currently employs 115 people year-round.
• Agro-ParisTechminorOthersAcademic partnership where LSDH hosts students twice yearly: January sessions on career paths and September sessions with President Emmanuel Vasseneix on entrepreneurship.

Scale indicators20 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Bonduelle: French family-controlled leader in ready-to-eat salads and processed vegetables. Direct comparable to LSDH's Les Crudettes and C'Zon salad businesses, with overlapping French retail and foodservice customers and similar private-label + branded model.
• Agrial: French agricultural cooperative with beverage (Loïc Raison cider, juices), salad (Florette brand), and dairy operations. Highly comparable to LSDH as a multi-category French food/beverage manufacturer with both co-packing and proprietary brands across fresh and liquid categories.
• Refresco: Global pure-play beverage contract manufacturer producing soft drinks, juices, and water for retailers and brand owners. Closest international peer to LSDH's contract manufacturing model for non-alcoholic beverages across multiple formats and packaging types.
• Andros Group: French family-owned food company producing jams, juices, fruit preparations, and dairy desserts under its own brands and for retailer private labels. Highly comparable to LSDH as a French co-packer with broad B2B retailer relationships and a diversified branded portfolio.
• Charles & Alice: French family-owned specialist in fruit compotes and dairy-free desserts, with strong private-label manufacturing for European retailers. Comparable to LSDH in model (family-owned, multi-format packaging, retailer private label focus) and adjacent in product mix.

Broad incumbents

• Savencia Fromage & Dairy: French family-owned dairy group with broad specialty cheese and dairy ingredient operations. Comparable to LSDH on private label dairy manufacturing for French and international customers, though focused upstream on cheese rather than liquid beverages.
• Lactalis: World's largest privately-held dairy company and French dairy incumbent. Operates broadly across dairy categories with significant private label exposure; comparable to LSDH on the dairy manufacturing side, though much larger and more diversified.
• Danone: Global French dairy and plant-based beverages leader. Overlaps with LSDH on dairy and plant-based beverage manufacturing, though operates at much greater scale with global brand portfolio and broader retailer relationships.

Regional players

• Britvic: UK-listed soft drinks manufacturer with both branded products and private label/copacking capability. Comparable to LSDH on carbonated beverage manufacturing and multi-format packaging, though primarily serving UK and Ireland rather than France.
• Sodiaal: Largest French dairy cooperative, covering fluid milk, butter, cheese, and dairy ingredients. Comparable business model to LSDH on dairy co-packing/private label, though primarily domestic and more concentrated in dairy than LSDH's diversified portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/inventetonavenir
• Xx.com/groupeLSDH

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about LSDH