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 | Valère Mabille, an industrialist concerned about the well-being and health of his workers, brought together a few friends in 1891 to found the economical bakery Le Bon Grain in Mariemont. Built on the model of a cooperative, it offered bread at a reduced price to its members and affiliates. This is because bread was, at the time, the basis of the worker's diet. Almost all of the profits (85%) were redistributed to them in various forms such as half-yearly cash rebates, the modest pension at age 60 calculated in proportion to the bread consumed (from 1897), daily bread guaranteed in the event of illness or accident or even compensation in kind for widows and orphans. To reduce its costs, the cooperative equipped a flour mill (1896), a biscuit factory and a pastry shop (1903) before opening a series of branches within a radius of 30 kilometers, the distance covered by the horses on each tour: Strée near Beaumont, Braine-le-Comte, Nimy in the suburbs of Mons, Saint-Remy-lez-Chimay and Sambreville. It diversified by buying the brewery/vinegar factory Saint-Pierre, owned by Valère Mabille's sister, before joining the central food store La Pension and its network of 25 grocery stores (1908). In 1927, around 30,000 families were affiliated and regularly ate bread. The same year, it distributed baptism gifts to 978 children, communion gifts to 583 children and intervened with Grand Saint-Nicolas for 7,000 small children from independent schools. Bought in 1992 by the Quintens bakery in Heusden-Zolder and integrated into Le Bon Grain Group. It was taken over in 2015 by La Lorraine Bakery Group. Commercial Register To see the To hide the Breewed beers Nationale et Spéciale. Eaux, Sodas Eau de table Source de Mariemont. Mariemont-Mousseux. | ||
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