L Eclair Patisserie Experiences Growth with a Riggs Autopack Depositor- November 11th 2024

Leeds based L éclair Patisserie was born from a passion of French cooking, especially the sweet side, and the realisation that everyone needs an eclair in their life. With a small team of pastry chefs all sharing the same obsession for French patisserie and perfection, L éclair Patisserie was born!

Their story began in lockdown. They took what was an old gym in West Leeds and converted it into a huge all singing, all dancing kitchen perfect for creating their patisserie. Then came the shop.

They wanted to bring a little bit of Paris to Leeds so got a real-life Frenchman (Frank the Machine) who could see their vision. Armed with a drill and a paintbrush, off he went waving his magic wand of wonder and created their little shop.

Since the early days of the little bakery shop, they’ve substantially grown and become a contract supplier producing 1000’s of bespoke products each day for national hotel groups. Their skilled team create a huge variety of tarts, macarons, gateaux and cheesecakes to name just a few products each week on a bespoke basis to meet each client’s specific requests. 

As production has grown over the years, they realised that to keep up with demand they would need to look at a suitable semi-automatic depositor. Co-founder Stephen Thompson approached depositor manufacturer Riggs Autopack to discuss their potential depositing requirements. The initial remit was to speed up their production process by accurately depositing their range of ambient temperature cake batters, directly into trays, with a nominal single deposit range of 3ml - 40ml.

Following the initial enquiry, Riggs Autopack Technical Sales Engineer Neil Pygott visited their premises to discuss their requirements in person and review their range of products and containers. To meet their specific production needs, Riggs Autopack recommended their Model 1000 Series 1 Micro Depositor and supplied L éclair Patisserie with a free of charge depositor for a 2-week period to conduct comprehensive product trials. 

 

  

 

Stephen Thompson said, “The support and guidance we received from Neil Pygott and Riggs Autopack was invaluable and perfect! We haven't used depositors before and relied heavily upon their expert guidance. Within just a couple of days of running the machine in production, operators reported back how much easier and quicker the depositor had made their jobs. They loved it!"

They were astonished with the increased production speeds, depositing accuracy and product presentation. Consequently, L éclair Patisserie placed an order with Riggs Autopack for the Series 1 Micro Depositor.

The depositor has dramatically changed the company and transformed the cost of production; they are now producing 5 times the volume when compared to before the machine. 22 minutes of previous production time is now only 4 minutes! By purchasing the depositor, it has also opened new doors and undertake many larger contracts that they would previously have not been able to fulfil.

 

 

Stephen Thompson added: “I contacted several companies that sell depositors, however from the first call to Riggs Autopack I knew these people had the experience, knowledge and support we would need in this new field to us”.

“At our first meeting there was no pressure to buy or ‘our machine is better than everyone else’s’ approach; they let the machine do the talking. Even on the set up of the trial machine, Neil Pygott and a service engineer came out to set up the machine and talked the team through every element”. 

“The machine never left our premises. I called Neil and said send me an invoice, it’s staying! Buy this machine, it will save labour cost, portion costs, opens up NPD and the most important for me is ANYONE can use this machine…..and as a bonus you will get a great new friend called Neil“.