Quebec could starve and lose $7.7 million from the bankruptcy of Acton Vale-based Pâtisserie Gaudet, which Walmart had been a customer of since the company thrived with its pies and pies.
“The balance owed by the company to the Quebec government and Investissement Québec is $7.7 million,” confirmed Dominik Boudreault Lapierre, spokesman for Investissement Québec (IQ) yesterday.
Pâtisserie Gaudet, which just filed for bankruptcy, was $23.8 million in debt, making Quebec a major creditor.
Among the 113 workers, the pill is difficult to swallow. According to the daily, some even fear that they will never see the color of their salary from the past few weeks again.
A few years ago, however, Montérégie’s flagship company had the wind in its sails and was the country’s third-largest pie maker.
In 2015, more than nine million cakes came out of the ovens each year.
American giant Walmart also had an appetite for its “Made in Quebec” products from the MRC d’Acton.
million dollar rain
Over the years, Pâtisserie Gaudet has been entitled to millions of dollars in financial support of all kinds to continue its businesses.
In 2016, Quebec gave him a $700,000 loan to build a new factory.
The following year, another $1 million loan was granted for a second production line at the same facility.
Two years later, Pâtisserie Gaudet was offered another $2.2 million loan “to improve the company’s working capital,” IQ points out.
Finally, last year Investissement Québec made two more loans totaling $4.3 million for the purchase of equipment, machinery and for its “working capital.”
Pâtisserie Gaudet did not respond to the Journal’s interview requests yesterday.
– With Martin Jolicoeur