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Seven years ago, Bastien Verslype and Katia Vincon came to South Australia on a holiday from France, and left four months later with a business idea.
Verslype is an artisan smallgoods maker at heart but was working in a large factory in France. He longed to produce the kind of smallgoods he saw his grandfather make on the farm when he was young.
While touring through Kangaroo Island, the Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale, Verslype and Vincon saw opportunity to bring a French smallgoods business to the Australian market.
“We noticed that in South Australia you had a lot of small German smallgoods, some Polish, and the French was missing,” Verslype says.
In January 2017, the couple made the move to Australia, and by April they’d introduced Les Deux Coqs, starting with a small range of tapenade, sweet spreads, saucisson and biscuits. After a couple of months, they expanded the range to include pâtés.
Verslype was aware of local businesses operating in a similar space, but he wanted to expand the Australian understanding of what pâté is and could be.
Pate is the name of the game at Les Deux Coqs Source: Ainsley's Market Menu
“We’ve been spending a lot of time, doing a lot of tasting… explaining the difference between the different types of pâté: the terrine, the rillette, which is slow-cooked and shredded meat, and what we call mousse, the liver pâté,” Verslype says.
“Many customers were not eating pâté before because of the liver, so they found their style.”
The business grew steadily, flitting between the Willunga, Victor Harbor and Goolwa farmers’ markets on weekends. Over that time, Verslype had the long-term goal to bring .
Many customers were not eating pâté before because of the liver, so they found their style.
“That was probably one of the best memories we had of Adelaide… the Market was home-looking,” Verslype recalls.
Les Deux Coqs debuted in the Adelaide Central Market in December 2017, in the Market’s short-term pop-up Producer in Residence stall, and around six months later, they signed a lease for Stall 2.
This was an immediate level up for the business, which included upscaling Les Deux Coqs’ production from a shared kitchen at the McLaren Vale Bocce Club to its own facility in Prospect.
“I would probably say it was a risky move, because we had a very small customer base,” Verslype says.
“[But] we know that foodie people are used to going to the market… We knew that most of the French community will move to the market very quickly, easily, because they were missing that type of food.”
Verslype showcased his goods on the series Ainsley's Australian Market Menu. Source: Ainsley's Market Menu
The Central Market works as a producer showcase, with industry types sweeping through the stalls looking for new suppliers. Les Deux Coqs has found a strong client base in restaurants and cellar doors across South Australia and interstate.
The shop has also expanded its offering, now producing an array of French cuisine, including dine-in charcuterie, patisserie, and take-home soups and cassoulet.
“That’s how we succeeded to build up customers in the market, because if they get sick of smallgoods after a couple of weeks, they can buy a tart and come in every week,” Verslype says.
That’s how we succeeded to build up customers in the market, because if they get sick of smallgoods after a couple of weeks, they can buy a tart and come in every week.
Verslype sees the future of the business in expanding to more shops, so as to retain control of how his products are sold while still in the market-education phase.
“We’ve been trying to work with retailers, and [often] they don’t know how to showcase our product,” Verslype says.
“Even things like where to put the product in the shop. Because our jars, you can actually put them in the dry section, but Australians go to the fridge to find the pâté - so we had some [problems to solve like these].
“If we can keep building the number of shops in South Australia, we will. We’ve got some areas we would like to be in, and we’ve got some contacts also in Victoria, some people who are interested in what we do.”
Les Deux Coqs
Stall 2, Adelaide Central Market
44-60 Gouger Street, Adelaide
