More than $100,000 worth of escargot was stolen from a French snail farmer earlier this week, French media reported, leaving the company scrambling to restock in time for the holiday season.
“This really isn’t the kind of post I wanted to write so close to the holidays,” L’Escargot des Grands Crus wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday. “We were the victim of a robbery and our stock of fresh frozen snails was stolen.”
Family-run Escargot des Grands Crus raises about 350,000 snails a year and prepares its escargots “with the utmost care,” its website says.
The theft of the snails is “shocking, inexplicable and a huge blow to the whole team,” the farm, based in Bouzy, northeast France, said on Facebook.
According to French public broadcaster France Info, thieves sneaked into the farm undetected between Sunday and Monday, breaking into the building housing the snails. The fence surrounding the property had been cut.
Once inside, the thieves were greeted by shelves “filled with snails in jars, fresh snails, frozen snails,” farm owner Jean-Mathieu d’Auvergne told French Information Agency. Images after the theft showed the refrigerator almost completely empty.
However, some of the stocks taken were not prepared for consumption, the media reported. The snail shells were not washed and the butter to accompany the escargot was not made.
“You can’t ingest it directly,” says Daubergne.
In total, the thieves stole nearly 450 kilograms of snails, France Info reported.
L’Escargot des Grands Crus will try to restock before Christmas and New Year’s Eve, given that 60% of its annual revenue is generated between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the store said.
Since the theft, Mr. Dauvergne has been able to supply snails to some restaurants, including Michelin-starred customers, France Info reported.
Other snail farmers are also stepping in to sell some of their Daubergne stock at reduced prices, the newspaper said.
“We are ready to help him right away so that he can save his season,” Alexandre Mer, another snail farmer in the Vosges mountains, told France Info.
