Since Brexit came into force, confectioner Pecan Deluxe has faced all kinds of red tape, especially for its products containing ingredients of animal origin, such as milk or eggs. Its leaders have therefore found the parade: to go vegan.
"One of the biggest problems after Brexit was the implementation of border controls (...) which caused many difficulties, with products being sent back to us or having to be destroyed", explains to AFP Graham Kingston, managing director of Pecan Deluxe Candy Europe.
The family company originating from Texas and whose European factory is located in Leeds, in the north of England, manufactures all kinds of confectionery to decorate or enrich pastries and desserts: coulis, pralines, chocolate chips, brownies, cookies, vermicelli colored in sugar, etc.
Before Brexit, 84% of its production in Europe was destined for export outside the UK, and this rate fell after the country effectively left the EU two years ago.
The leader deplores the innumerable difficulties that companies are facing as a result of Brexit, "without being able to count on the help of the government".
Pecan Deluxe has responded by parrying multiple veterinary checks and formalities by reformulating its recipes to make them completely vegan, replacing ingredients derived from eggs or dairy products with plant-based equivalents.
In addition, this line of products with plant-based ingredients "offers other benefits, including reduced prices, and allows us to follow current trends such as veganism", adds Graham Kingston.
“Health certifications and other documents required at the border have cost us over £100,000 in recent years. The changes we have made have greatly reduced these costs,” he continues.
To make life easier, Pecan Deluxe has also decided to make Calais its only port of entry into the EU, to organize customs clearance and veterinary inspections in the same place.
The confectioner is far from the only UK business affected by the Brexit fallout. Many sectors are notably faced with a severe shortage of manpower, with more than 300,000 European workers who are lacking compared to before Brexit and which are not compensated for by recruits from outside the EU.
And not all companies have found a way to avoid negative fallout, as Pecan Deluxe has.
Eurostar deplores, for example, a traffic jam at immigration and customs controls which slows down the flow of travelers so much that the trains are sparsely filled at peak times.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, a member of the opposition Labor party, called on Conservative leaders a few days ago to recognize the "tremendous damage" caused by a Brexit which he said "is not working".
Support for Brexit has never been so low across the Channel: less than a third of Britons believe it was the right decision, according to a poll conducted in November by the YouGov institute.
But there is no question for the moment, in the Labor camp as a conservative, of reversing the steam after years of deleterious negotiations which have deeply divided the country.
So Pecan Deluxe has a good heart against bad luck and plans to double its turnover over five years.
If he begins to dream of an improbable return to the EU, his boss believes in the meantime that if the British government gives more information to companies, which are reduced to paying for expensive training to find their way around, or paid them financial aid, "that would already help a lot".
31/01/2023 12:41:06 - Sherburn-in-Elmet (Royaume-Uni) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
