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Rose-Anna Vachon (née Giroux) entrepreneur, pastry chef (born 14 April 1877 in Saint-Elzéar-de-Beauce (Saint-Elzéar), QC; died 2 December 1948 in Sainte-Marie-de-la-Nouvelle-Beauce, QC). Rose-Anna Vachon founded a bakery in 1923 together with her husband, Joseph-Arcade Vachon. At first, the bakery was a family business, but by the late 1930s, Vachon cakes, such as the popular Jos Louis, were being produced on an assembly line (see Industrialization in Canada).
Childhood and Personal Life
Rose-Anna Giroux attended the school in her village, but she left after grade five to help her parents with their farm. (See also: History of Education in Canada; Agriculture in Canada.) She married Joseph-Arcade Vachon on 13 July 1897 and they established a farm and a sugar bush in Saint-Patrice-de-Beaurivage, Quebec. (See also Maple Syrup Industry.) They had seven children together.
With limited employment opportunities in Beauce, four of their sons (Rédempteur, Louis, Joseph and Amédée) moved to the United States to find work. (See also: Franco-Americans; Canada and the United States.) Although she had no business experience, Rose-Anna convinced her husband to sell their farm and go into business to reunite their family.
Career
In 1923, Rose-Anna and Joseph-Arcade Vachon bought the Leblond bakery in Sainte-Marie-de-la-Nouvelle-Beauce, Quebec. Rose-Anna started to sell bread and managed the finances of the J.A Vachon bakery. The bakery quickly became more diverse and successfully began selling cakes as well.
Rose-Anna and Joseph-Arcade’s children became involved in the bakery in 1927. The bakery then became J.A. Vachon et fils, boulangers et pâtissiers. Despite the 1930s depression, the business expanded, and in 1936 Rose-Anna and Joseph-Arcade bought the Diamond Shoe factory in Sainte-Marie-de-la-Nouvelle-Beauce. The new factory allowed the company to increase its production and produce cakes on an assembly line. These cakes includedthe iconic Jos Louis, named after two of the Vachon Brothers, Joseph and Louis. (See also Industrialization in Canada).
The business that Rose-Anna had started with her husband continued to evolve, and by the 1940s the factory specialized exclusively in the production of small cakes. Between 1944 and 1945, Rose-Anna, the sole owner of the business since her husband’s death in 1938, sold the business to four of her sons, Joseph, Amédée, Paul and Benoît.
Legacy and Public Recognition
During her lifetime, Rose-Anna Vachon helped create an iconic Quebecois business, renamed Vachon Inc. in 1960. What started as a family business became a major industry in Quebec and Canada. In 1970, Paul and Benoît Vachon sold the business to Mouvement Desjardins (Desjardins Group) for $14 million. In 1999, it was purchased by Saputo Inc., a Quebec-based dairy processing company (see also Lino Saputo; Dairy Industry). In 2015, Saputo sold its bakery division for $120 million to Boulangerie Canada Bread, a business unit of the Mexican multinational Grupo Bimbo. This was the first time the Vachon business had ever been in foreign hands. The Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce factory remains active.
In 1993, the municipality of Ste-Marie named the former private residence of Rose-Anna and Joseph-Arcade Vachon as a heritage building. In 2000, Canada Post issued a stamp in honour of Rose-Anna Vachon and the Vachon cakes.
