Customer testimonials
Interview with Etienne ROZAND, co-founder of Maison Lipopette by FoodTech Lyon AuRA
05
June
Published on: 05/06/2023
Etienne ROZAND, co-founder of Maison Lipopette was interviewed by FoodTech Lyon AuRA on May 05, 2023. Discover the interview below.
Hello Etienne, could you tell us about Maison Lipopette and the innovative solution you offer?
Maison Lipopette is France's first organic, clean-label soy sauce. We created this sauce to put taste back at the heart of the product, for example by reducing the salt content by 30-50% compared to current market recipes. We've also completely reworked our sourcing: the soy is mainly grown in Charente, the rice comes from Camargue, the salt from Guérande, the production is carried out in France and the storage is in Lyon. We're also thinking about the packaging side, so as to use only French glass.
We've entered the world of culinary aids with an Asian-flavored sauce that's high in quality and taste, and can be used by restaurant chefs, street food chefs and home cooks alike. It can be used cold as a marinade or hot to enhance the taste of any dish. Our watchwords: respect for producers, the environment and taste.
Why did your father and brother decide to create Maison Lipopette?
In our French-style maki and sushi restaurant in Lyon, which opened in 2020, we didn't want to use an "industrial" soy sauce. So we decided to develop a French soy sauce ourselves. It took us a year to find our suppliers, work on the recipes, identify the specific know-how to define the natural fermentation process and carry out the various tests until we had the ideal soy sauce for us. The sauce was a hit with our customers, who asked for it for their own personal use. We began marketing it to restaurants and grocery stores in the area, and then to various food retailers such as fishmongers and butchers. It's worth noting that this soy sauce has a different aroma from conventional soy sauces on the market, thanks to its manufacturing process, which involves a slow, natural fermentation lasting ten months.
Who were your key partners and supporters in this entrepreneurial adventure?
The Maison Lipopette project goes beyond the initial scope of the Lipopette restaurant and required specific structuring and organization. We found an expert partner to develop the fermentation process, which is carried out on soya and rice to avoid the use of wheat and make a gluten-free product. The result of this fermentation process is a sauce which, visually, does not completely resemble a classic soy sauce due to its lighter color. To adapt to wider marketing, we had to rethink our container as well as the heat treatment of the product, with the strong challenge of not altering the taste and clean-label aspect of the recipe. At the same time, we had to rework the marketing offer to explain and highlight the uniqueness of this sauce.
Maison Lipopette is the 2023 winning startup in the Transformation category of the Trophées de la FoodTech Lyon AuRA. What did this award mean to you?
We're delighted to have won, especially as it's the first time we've entered a competition. It's really gratifying to have our project recognized by industry professionals! What's more, having access to support from the CTCPA came at just the right time to reward the work we'd been doing for a year. It gave us a boost and helped us improve our product in a number of ways. It's really important and very instructive to be able to rely on professionals from the food industry to guide us and help us solve the various industrialization and packaging problems. It's an opportunity for Maison Lipopette to move forward more serenely, with an attractive, virtuous, high-quality and well-positioned offering. This FoodTech Lyon AuRA award is a real encouragement to continue innovating and developing great projects, and what's more, we've already got a lot in mind!
Maison Lipopette has been part of the FoodTech Lyon AuRA startup community since the FoodTech 2022 apéro. How would you describe this community?
I came to the Apéro on the advice of an entrepreneur friend, because it was a great opportunity to meet the key players in Lyon's foodtech sector, as well as other entrepreneurs, each with their own unique human adventure! It's a community with a real vision, bringing together inspiring entrepreneurs with singular backgrounds, but who know how to remain approachable, simple and benevolent. You can't learn to be an entrepreneur at school: the FoodTech Lyon AuRA, with its dynamism, regular events and diversity of players, enables us to fine-tune our project, clarify certain aspects, find good advice and evolve as the project matures.
See the interview with Carla LUCET, national manager of startup CTCPA, by FoodTech Lyon AuRA
