More than $100,000 worth of escargots had been stolen from a French snail farmer earlier this week, French media reported, leaving the provider scrambling to replenish its inventory in time for the vacation season.
“This is really not the post that we thought we would write approaching the holidays,” L’Escargot Des Grands Crus wrote in a post on Facebook Tuesday. “We were victims of a burglary and our stock of fresh and frozen snails was stolen.”
A household enterprise, L’Escargot Des Grands Crus breeds round 350,000 snails yearly, making ready the escargots “with the greatest care,” in accordance with its web site.
The snail theft is “a shock, incomprehensible and a real blow for all of the team,” the farm, which relies in Bouzy, northeastern France, mentioned on Facebook.
Overnight from Sunday into Monday, thieves entered the farm undetected and broke into the buildings housing the snails, French public broadcaster France Info reported. The fence surrounding the property had been minimize, it mentioned.
Once inside, the thieves had been met with cabinets “full of snails: in jars, fresh, frozen,” Jean-Mathieu Dauvergne, the proprietor of the farm advised France Info. Images from after the theft confirmed fridges nearly completely empty.
But some of the inventory taken was not ready for consumption, the outlet reported. The shells of the snails weren’t cleaned, and the butter that accompanies the escargot was not made.
“You can’t consume it directly,” Dauvergne mentioned.
In whole, the thieves stole practically 450 kilograms (roughly 990lbs) of snails, France Info reported.
L’Escargot Des Grands Crus will attempt to replenish its shares earlier than Christmas and New Year’s Eve, on condition that 60% of its annual income is made throughout this era in accordance with the outlet.
Dauvergne has been capable of provide snails to some eating places – together with some of his Michelin-starred clientele – because the theft, France Info reported.
Other snail farmers have stepped in to promote Dauvergne some of their inventory at diminished costs, the outlet said.
“We’re ready to help him quickly for him to be able to save his season,” Alexandre Maire, one other snail farmer from the Vosges, advised France Info.