Article : Le Journal du Conseil Général de L'Indre N°50 3rd Trimester 2005
Download the original article in french
Little by little, Jean-Claude Benéteau’s dream has become a reality. He has created his own company. It is called Berry Services, “at the service of the ready-to-wear sector”. The clothes that you see on supermarket shelves or in certain shops have perhaps been packaged in the Indre département, in Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre.
In Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre, thousands of garments of clothing and accessories get spruced up before being put on sale on the shelves of department stores, supermarkets and ready-to-wear clothes shops. What makes Berry Services stand out is its high level of versatility in processing finished products. “We are able to carry out quality control, ironing and smoothing, labelling, alterations, packaging, storage and delivery of all kinds of clothing,” explains Jean-Claude Benéteau, the young company director. In the Le Fay small business area, Berry Services takes delivery of items in bulk— shirts, trousers, jackets, caps and shoes, mainly coming from China, Eastern Europe and North Africa. The forty employees prepare them, sometimes even putting them on hangers, before sending them all over France. Although the company outsources delivery, all handling operations are carried out in-house by a workforce of versatile women.
Turnover of 2 million euros
“Today, the textile industry represents 80% of our turnover,” explains Jean-Claude Benéteau. All tasks combined, Berry Services can process 100,000 items in a week and respond to specific requests, such as that of a customer who wanted to give away a ball with the purchase of their product. “We inflated the little balls in-house and packaged the two products together.”
A large workforce
According to needs, the permanent staff members are supplemented by temporary workers— particularly in the lead-up to the start of the school year, when the company receives a large number of orders. Comprising mainly women, the staff come from the neighbouring municipalities of La Châtre, Aigurande and Argenton. Having previously worked in textile companies, they have found employment close to where they live. As such, a large workforce is needed, but few machines. Nonetheless, Berry Services requires spacious premises. “We have grown from 500 m² to almost 4,000 m².” This expansion is proof that the company is flourishing.
The countryside is not a disadvantage
It took this former engineer only six months to gain his place on the market. Unlike his competitors, who specialise in just one service—ironing, for example—this versatile service offer is of increasing interest to customers. This advantage aside, he says that “being based in the countryside has never been a disadvantage. What is essential is to be close to road networks, like here, two hours from Paris and close to a motorway entrance. These are vital infrastructures as when 100,000 jumpers are sent out for distribution, fifteen trailers hit the road!"
An atypical journey
Setting up his own company had always been a goal for Jean-Claude Benéteau, former employee of the company Mead in Châteauroux, in the machine design department. To such an extent that he founded Berry Services in October 1998, before even having landed his first order. “I only know that I was going to do something in the field of packaging”. With the help and support of local councillors, his gamble paid off. Tenacious and creative, at the age of 41 he stepped into the role of sales representative and took many trips to the capital and to the north of France. “Paris to Châteauroux in high-speed train would be great,” he says, as he plans to grow his business even more. “Nothing is planned for the time being, but I there is still—if required—space that could be converted around the site.”
