La Belle Iloise

Georges Hilliet was 22 years old when he opened a fish cannery at Port-Maria, Quiberon's fishing harbour, in 1932. When supermarkets emerged in the 1960s and pressured canneries to cut costs, he refused, declaring he would sooner sell his sardines from a basket on the beach than compromise on quality. The company took its name from the people of Belle-Île, the island opposite Quiberon where the sardines are caught. His granddaughter Caroline Hilliet Le Branchu runs it today, with 60 shops along the French coast and a policy of selling direct only.