A French farm near the city of Reims, just 80 miles outside of Paris, reported a heist in which thieves made off with approximately $104,000 worth of snails used to make escargot.
“The coming weeks are normally our busiest…so this is a shock…and a real blow for the entire team,” the farm L’Escargot Des Grands Crus wrote in a recent post on Facebook.
Why It Matters
France is already reeling from the international attention brought on by the heist at the Louvre, which occurred on a Sunday morning in broad daylight, calling into question the standards of security.
Farms may not appear to be the same kind of high-quality target as an art museum, but the French restaurant scene is a booming industry for a country that is rated as one of the world’s favorite places to visit, recording 100 million tourists in 2024 to become the most-visited country that year, according to CNN.
However, despite those heists, and hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics, restaurants and hospitality as a whole saw a slump in the summer, concerning many analysts and experts.
What To Know
In a post on Facebook, L’Escargot Des Grands Crus wrote that the farm had been robbed of its fresh and frozen supplies of snails, and that the farm is doing “everything we can to replenish our stock so we can serve you for the holiday season.”
Photos posted with the message show that even prepared products were taken from the shelves and the fridges.
“A whole section of finished products was stolen from the store, and raw material stock from my laboratory,” Jean-Mathieu Dauvergne, the farm’s manager, told news outlet Franceinfo. He said the number of snails stolen was enough to prepare 10,000 meals.
In an interview with La Parisien, Dauvergne revealed that the thieves entered the property by cutting through the border fence, then used a crowbar to break open the door and smash the detectors.
“It’s very surprising because they stole raw materials: 450 kg (or 992 pounds) of snail meat. It’s incredible to have stolen such a quantity. It must be the work of a very organized network,” he said.
The snails are supplied to restaurants so they can make the world-famous French dish escargots, in which the chef cooks the snails in garlic butter and wine. The snails are often pulled from their shells, but some chefs prefer to serve them in shell and let customers enjoy extracting the snails themselves.
L’Escargot Des Grands Crus supplies restaurants including the Michelin-starred Les Crayeres in Reims, in addition to delis and private clients, the BBC reported. Those snails mainly would have supplied the restaurants for the Christmas season.
The French consume 14,300 tons of snails a year, although 95 percent of those are imported, The Independent reported.
What Happens Next?
Local law enforcement are investigating the theft, while the farm tries to restock to meet the end-of-year demand from customers ahead of the holiday season.
Dining and Cooking