The story of LIS began in 1936, when the Lesaffre family, historically established in the north of France, acquired a small distillery in Cérences, in the countryside of Normandy. The factory was destroyed by the 1944 bombing following the D-Day. The Lesaffre family, attached to Cérences and its inhabitants, decides to rebuild the site to restart the activity
Thanks to the constant support of the Lesaffre group, the activity restarted and diversified with the production of concentrated apple juice and milk powder: this is the beginning of the drying activity on the site and the stop of the distillery.
The arrival of milk quotas and the structuring of the dairy sector subsequently pushed the company to change direction : Lesaffre Normandie started supporting the group activities by producing bread improvers and packaged baking yeast, as well as drying yeast extracts for Biospringer, a sister company.
Gradually, many customers outside the Lesaffre group trusted the industrial know-how acquired by Lesaffre Normandie, renamed LIS France, for the drying of their own ingredients.
Since then, the activity continues to expand with new services and production capacities.
A new site was acquired in Poland to better serve all of Europe. A co-development laboratory, Powder Studio®, was established in Rennes. Alternative and new technologies, such as vacuum tunnel drying or electrostatic spray-drying (PolarDry®) were implemented.
With its’ Powder Studio®, its’ 11 spray-dryers in France and 6 more in Poland, LIS France can support its’ customers from laboratory to industrial scale.
Recently, societal expectations have stirred the company towards the use of renewable energy.
In 2024, LIS France, already a European leader in drying ingredients, inaugurated its new wooden biomass boiler, hence decarbonizing 85% the drying process and becoming a pioneer in offering sustainable spray-drying services.
We hope this new website showcases our industrial development and the expertise acquired over the past decades, and highlights our renewed willingness to adapt & innovate in order to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations on ever-evolving markets.
Happy reading!
